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VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH; 


Ipictii  anb  ttocfnlncss  (Exemplified 


MEMOIR  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  HICK, 

LATE   OF   MI('KLEFIJ;L]>,    YORKSHIRE. 


By  JAMES   EVERETT. 


FKOM  THE   SEVENTH    LONDON    EDITION. 


N£U)-i|ork : 


PUBLISHED  BY   CARLTON   A    PHILLIPS, 

100    M  D  I.  in:  It  B  y-stu  i:  i.  t. 

L853. 


PREFACE 

TO 

THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 


Biographers  have  occasionally,  though  per- 
haps unconsciously,  glided  into  two  opposite 
extremes  :  they  have  either  depreciated  the 
character  of  their  subjects,  or  overrated  their 
excellences.  To  the  former  extreme  they 
have  been  led  in  various  ways ;  and  in  none, 
among  the  less  offensive,  more  than  in  writing 
far  and  near  for  character;  and  after  securing 
their  object,  arranging  the  different  materials  in 
their  works,  like  witnesses  in  a  court  of  justice, 
to  speak  for  the  person  in  question.  This,  to 
say  the  least,  is  putting  the  subject  on  his  trial. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  the  Life  of  that  excellent 
man,  the  late  Rev.  William  Bramwell,  has  been 
doomed  to  suffer,  and  permitted  to  be  swelled 
to  a  useless  extent,  by  the  publication  of  opin- 
ions* which  were  never  given  with  a  view  to 
appear  in  print ;  and  which,  if  even  given  for 
that  purpose,  would  have  the  same  weight  with 
the  public  that  the  "  Names  of  Little  Note,  re- 
corded in  the  Biographia  Britannica,"  had  with 
Cowper,  especially  in  support  of  the  character 
of  such  a  man  ;  a  man  who  required  no  such 
adventitious  aid,  but  who,  after  all  the  prunings 

*  This  remark  refers  to  a  second  volume  published  in  Eng 
land,  but  never  republished  in  this  country. — Eds. 


f>  VILLA',  i:    BLACKSMITH-*-?REFACE. 

and  parings  of  'hose  who  least  admired  him, 
and,  with  only  a  lithe  of  his  wisdom,  looked  up- 
on him  as  a  weak  enthusiast,  would  have  stood 
a  lovely  tree  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  re- 
freshing many  with  his  verdure,  protecting  them 
with  his  shade,  and  enriching  them  with  the 
weight  and  luxuriance  of  his  fruit.  When  an 
author  is  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  going 
abroad  in  quest  of  character  for  his  subject,  it  is 
hut  too  evident  that  the  subject  has  not  been 
sufficiently  at  home  with  himself  to  be  known  ; 
or,  that,  in  addition  to  a  paucity  of  material, 
there  is  either  incapacity  for  the  work,  or  doubts 
of  the  propriety  of  its  execution.  In  the  pre- 
sent case,  either  the  writer  has  not  humility  to 
spare  for  such  condescension,  or  he  wishes  not 
to  degrade  his  subject.  Having  no  internal 
misgivings,  no  suspicion,  he  considers  his  hero 
not  as  on  his  trial,  but  one  against  whom  no 
charge  is  preferred,  and  therefore  deems  the 
witness-box  unnecessary.  Let  him  not,  how- 
ever, be  misunderstood  ;  for  though  he  has 
gone  in  quest  of  materials,  he  has  not  gone  in 
search  of  character.  He  has  procured  materials, 
in  order  to  form  an  opinion  of  his  ovm ;  mate- 
rials, which  rose  out  of  a  character  already 
formed — a  character  imbodied  in  a  "  living 
epistle"  before  the  public,  "seen  and  read  of 
all  ;"  and  but  for  which  character,  such  materi- 
als would  not  have  existed. 

The  other  extreme  into  which  biographers 
have  fallen  has  had  its  rise  in  an  overweening 
anxiety  and  partiality,  inducing  them  on   the 


VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH PREFACE.  7 

one  hand  to  render  the  character  as  perfect  as 
possible,  in  order  to  secure  on  the  other  an 
ample  share  of  the  good  opinion  of  the  reader. 
Here  the  writer  has  again  to  plead  disinclina- 
tion. He  has  taken  up  the  character  of  Samuel 
Hick  as  it  was,  not  as  he  wished  it,  nor  as  it 
ought  to  be  ;  and  has  left  the  man  as  he  found 
him — in  the  rough,  and  unadorned ;  somewhat 
resembling  the  block  of  marble  upon  which  the 
first  efforts  of  the  artist  have  been  employed, 
where  the  human  form  has  been  brought  out  of 
the  unfinished  mass,  in  whose  core  are  to  be 
found  all  those  hidden  qualities  which  give 
beauty  to  the  surface,  only  waiting  the  masterly 
hand  of  a  Phidias,  for  the  purpose  of  imparting 
grace,  and  polish,  and  finish. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  follow- 
ing pages  commenced,  were  carried  on,  and 
completed,  are  these  : — The  good  man,  whose 
life  and  character  they  profess  to  portray,  de- 
posited with  the  writer,  about  three  years  prior 
to  the  period  of  his  dissolution,  some  papers, 
with  a  solemn  injunction  to  prepare  them  for 
publication.  These  papers  were  found  to  com- 
prise broken  materials  of  personal  history,  such 
as  he  himself  alone  was  capable  of  throwing 
together,  and  such  as  it  would  fall  to  the  lot  of 
but  few,  without  previous  and  personal  acquaint- 
ance, to  be  able  to  separate  and  decipher.  The 
pledge  of  preparation  was  given,  without  the 
specification  of  time,  on  either  side,  for  its  ful- 
filment. Such  was  the  heterogeneal  character 
of  the  papers,  and  such  the  complexion  of  many 


8  VILLAGE    DLACKSMITH PREFACE. 

of  the  facts  and  incidents,  that  some  of  the  for- 
mer were  totally  useless,  and  some  of  the  latter 
unlit  to  meet  the  public  eye ;  the  whole  requir- 
ing another  language,  and  bare  allusion  being 
sufficient  in  many  instances  where  amplification 
had  been  indulged.  Some  time  previous  to  the 
decease  of  the  subject,  a  degree  of  impatience 
was  expressed  for  the  completion  of  the  Me- 
moir :  but  as  no  time  had  been  originally  speci- 
fied, and  as  it  was  known  that  the  good  man 
was  imprudently  pushed  on  to  request  its  publi- 
cation during  life,  by  injudicious  friendship,  the 
work,  in  mercy  to  himself,  and  for  the  still 
higher  honour  of  the  religion  he  professed,  nor 
less  richly  enjoyed,  was  purposely  delayed ; 
from  an  impression  that  nothing  short  of  the 
publication  of  the  whole  would  give  satisfac- 
tion. The  writer's  vow  being  still  upon  him, 
added  to  which,  having  been  urged  by  others 
to  furnish  the  public  with  a  biographical  ac- 
count of  the  deceased,  he  has  employed  of  the 
papers  thus  referred  to,  together  with  others 
which  have  since  been  put  into  his  hands  by 
different  friends,  whatever  he  has  found  con- 
vertible to  the  purpose  of  affording  instruction 
to  the  Christian  community,  as  illustrative  of  the 
grace  and  providence  of  God ;  the  whole  com- 
bining to  furnish  a  living  exposition  of  what  has 
proceeded  from  the  source  of  truth,  where  it  is 
affirmed  that  "  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things 
of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise ;  and  God  hath 
chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  arc  mighty ;  and  base  things  of 


VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH — PREFACE.  9 

the  world,  and  things  ivhich  are  despised,  hath 
God  chosen,  yea,  and  things  which  are  not,  to 
bring  to  naught  the  things  that  are  :  that  no  flesh- 
should  glory  in  his  presence." 

It  may  be  proper  to  mention,  that  some  time 
after  the  death  of  Samuel  Hick,  the  writer 
learned,  by  an  application  being  made  to  him 
for  materials,  that  another  person  had  it  in  con- 
templation to  prepare  a  Memoir  ;  but  it  was  too 
late  :  he  had  gone  too  far  to  recede  :  and  as 
he  could  not  conceive  what  virtue  his  MS. 
could  derive  from  the  simple  process  of  passing 
through  a  second  person's  hand  to  the  press,  or 
what  advantage  he  could  reap  by  placing  the 
fruit  of  his  labour  at  the  disposal  of  one  who 
had  neither  held  the  plough  nor  scattered  the 
seed  into  the  furrows,  he  preferred  appearing 
before  the  public  in  his  own  name,  without  al- 
lowing the  imperfections  of  his  pages  to  be 
charged  upon  others,  or  their  merit — should 
they  possess  any — to  be  claimed  by  any  but 
their  legitimate  owner. 

Among  the  persons  to  whom  the  writer  has 
to  acknowledge  his  obligations  for  information 
respecting  the  subject  of  the  Memoir,  he  would 
not  omit  his  friend,  Mr.  William  Dawson,  of 
Barnbow,  near  Leeds,  to  whom  the  work  is  in- 
scribed,— the  Rev.  Messrs.  H.  Beech,  A.  Lea- 
royd,  J.  Hanwell,  T.  Harris,  and  J.  Roadhouse, 
together  with  Mr.  Robert  Watson,  son-in-law 
of  the  deceased,  and  other  branches  of  the  fa- 
mily— the  latter  furnishing  him  with  the  use  of 
his  correspondence. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO   THE 

SECOiND  EDITION  OF  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH 


The  first  impression  of  this  Memoir  having 
been  sold  in  about  the  space  of  one  month  after 
its  publication,  and  several  orders  remaining 
unfulfilled,  the  writer  has  been  induced  to  send 
forth  a  second.  Though  any  attempt  to  conceal 
his  pleasure  in  the  success  of  the  volume  would 
appear  sheer  affectation,  he  is  far  from  attribut- 
ing the  favour  with  which  it  has  been  received 
to  the  manner  in  which  he  has  performed  his 
task  :  for,  had  it  not  been  for  the  subject — which 
may  be  considered  in  some  respects  new  in  bi- 
ography, and  as  holding  the  same  relation  to 
serious  reading,  as  a  novel  bears  to  the  gravej 
character  of  historical  details,  the  volume  might 
have  shared  the  same  fate  as  many  superior 
compositions — that  of  falling  dead  from  the 
press.  The  literary  world  has  heard  a  good 
deal  lately  respecting  the  romance  of  history  ; 
and  they  have  here  an  approach  to  the  romance 
of  religious  biography.  Such  forms  of  expres- 
sion, the  writer  is  aware,  are  liable  to  objec- 
tions ;  but  he  is  unable  at  present  to  find  a  more 
appropriate  term  to  express  his  views  and  feel- 
ings  in   penning  the  Life  of  Samuel  Hick — a 


VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH ADVERTISEMENT.     11 

character  so  singular,  and  yet  so  eminently  de- 
voted to  God  and  to  the  best  interests  of  man. 

The  reader  will  find  some  errors  corrected 
in  the  present  edition,  which  had  found  their 
way  into  the  former, — several  new  incidents 
and  anecdotes  introduced, — and  a  public  ad- 
dress appended,  which  the  subject  of  the  Me- 
moir delivered  in  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  many  of  the  facts  stated 
in  both  editions  may  assume  a  new  face  to  se- 
veral readers — so  much  so,  perhaps,  as  scarcely 
to  be  recognised  by  those  who  may  be  in  pos- 
session of  the  hundredth  oral  edition ;  but  to 
such  persons  as  are  aware  how  much  the  same 
tale  will  become  metamorphosed,  in  its  passage 
through  a  score  of  different  lips  and  minds,  it 
will  not  be  surprising  that  the  writer  should 
differ  in  some  important  particulars  from  vague 
report.  He  might  state  that  he  has  received 
communications  from  different  persons,  each 
professing  to  have  received  the  intelligence 
from  the  lips  of  Samuel  himself,  yet  widely  dif- 
ferent often,  both  in  the  principle  and  in  the 
detail.  This  could  be  accounted  for  from  the 
circumstance  of  Samuel  having  entered  into  parti- 
culars in  one  instance,  and  only  named  the  naked 
fact  in  another  ;  and  also  from  the  different  im- 
pressions produced  on  the  minds  of  the  persons 
themselves,  none  of  whom  might  have  thought 
of  a  publicity  beyond  the  domestic  circle  ;  and 
in  each  case  the  lapse  of  years  seriously  af- 
fected the  memory.  Yet,  with  these  inconve- 
niences, and  others  that  will  naturally  sugges* 


12     VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH ADVERTISEMENT. 

themselves  to  the  reader,  every  individual  is 
certain,  in  the  integrity  of  his  heart,  that  his  is 
the  only  correct  version.  This,  as  so  many 
extraordinary  tales  have  been  handed  round  re- 
specting the  subject  of  the  Memoir,  is  admoni- 
tory of  caution;  and  as  the  writer  has  had  ac- 
cess to  the  original  documents,  as  far  as  penned 
by  the  subject  himself,  and  from  only  part  of 
which  a  mutilated  copy  has  been  obtained,  any 
other  separately  published  Life — under  what- 
ever pretensions — should  be  received  with  sus- 
picion, both  as  to  its  details  and  the  motive  for 
publication. 


THE 

VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

CHAPTER   I. 

His  birth — Parentage — Hears  John  Nelson — Disturbance 

during  street-preaching — Is  hound  an  apprentice  to  a  black- 
smith— His  conduct — Attends  a  lovefeast — Becomes  the 
subject  of  divine  impressions — Hears  Thomas  Peace — Visits 
York — Scenes  of  riot — Hears  Richard  Burdsall — His  con- 
duct toward  a  persecuting  clergyman — His  heart  increasingly 
softened — Conviction — Mr.  Wesley — The  good  effects  of 
that  venerable  man's  ministry. 

Samuel  Hick,  the  subject  of  the  presen' 
memoir,  was  in  the  moral  world,  what  some  of 
the  precious  stones  are  in  the  mineral  kingdom, 
a  portion  of  which  lie  scattered  along  the  east- 
ern coast  of  the  island,  and  particularly  of  York- 
shire, his  own  county  ; — a  man  that  might  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  a  multitude  of  watering- 
place  visiters,  like  the  pebbles  immediately  un- 
der their  eye  ; — one  who,  to  pursue  the  simile, 
was  likely  to  be  picked  up  only  by  the  curious, 
in  actual  pursuit  of  such  specimens,  and  thus, 
though  slighted  and  trodden  under  foot,  like  the 
incrusted  gem,  by  persons  of  opposite  taste,  to 
be  preserved  from  being  for  ever  buried  in  the 
dust,  as  a  thing  of  naught  in  the  sand,  after  the 
opportunities  of  knowing  his  real  value — when 
above  the  surface,  had  been  permitted  to  pass 


11  THE    VILLAGE    DLACKSMITH. 

unobserved  and  unimproved ; — one  of  those, 
characters,  in  short,  that  could  only  be  disco- 
vered when  sought  after,  or  forced  upon  the 
senses  by  his  own  personal  appearance,  in  the 
peculiarities  by  which  he  was  distinguished — 
who  was  ever  secure  of  his  price  when  found 
— but  who  would,  nevertheless,  be  placed  by  a 
virtuoso  rather  among  the  more  curious  and 
singularly  formed,  than  among  the  richer  and 
rarer  specimens  in  his  collection. 

He  was  born  at  Aberford,  September  20th, 
1758,  and  was  one  of  thirteen  children  that  had 
to  be  nursed  and  reared  by  the  "  hand  labour" 
to  employ  an  expression  of  his  own,  of  poor, 
but  industrious  parents.  Through  the  limited 
means  of  the  family,  his  education  was  neces- 
sarily very  circumscribed,  being  chiefly  confined 
to  his  letters,  in  their  knowledge  and  formation, 
without  advancing  to  figures  : — and  even  these 
— such  was  the  blank  of  being  which  he  expe- 
rienced for  several  years  afterward — appear  to 
have  been  cither  totally  forgotten,  or  so  imper- 
fectly known,  as  to  induce  an  inability  to  read 
and  write  when  he  reached  the  age  of  man- 
hood. This  led  him,  in  after  life,  when  Sun- 
day-school instruction  dawned  upon  the  world, 
as  the  morning  of  a  brighter  day,  to  contemplate 
the  times  with  peculiar  interest,  and  to  wish 
that  he  had  been  favoured  with  the  privileges, 
in  his  younger  years,  which  he  lived  to  pro- 
mote and  to  see  enjoyed  by  others.  The  dream 
of  childhood  seemed  to  pass  away,  with  all  its 
dangers,  its  "  insect  cares,"  and  its  joys,  without 


THK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  15 

eaving  a  single  trace  of  any  interest  upon  his 
memory,  till  he  reached  the  seventh  year  of  his 
age  ;  and  one  of  the  first  of  his  reminiscences, 
when  sitting  down  at  a  kind  of  halting-post,  to- 
ward the  close  of  his  journey,  to  look  back  on 
all  the  way  which  the  Lord  God  had  led  him  in 
the  ivilderness,  was  just  such  an  occurrence  as 
a  mind  imbued  with  divine  grace  might  be  sup- 
posed to  advert  to, — anxious  only  to  fix  on  fa- 
voured spots,  where  God  is  seen  in  his  minis- 
ters, his  providence,  and  his  people. 

Field  and  street-preaching  had  neither  lost  its 
novelty  through  age,  nor  was  it  rendered  unneces- 
sary by  a  multiplicity  of  commodious  chapels  : 
while  the  want  of  a  suitable  place,  therefore,  led 
a  Wesleyan  itinerant  preacher  to  take  his  stand 
on  the  market  cross,  to  proclaim,  as  the  herald 
of  the  Saviour,  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  the 
inhabitants  of  Aberford  were  allured  to  the 
ground,  in  order  to  listen  to  his  message.  Lit- 
tle Samuel  mingled  with  the  crowd — gazed  with 
a  degree  of  vacancy  on  the  scene — heard,  but 
understood  not.  John  Nelson  was  the  preacher 
— a  man  whose  life  was  full  of  incident  and 
interest — who  discovered  no  less  prowess  in 
the  cause  of  God,  than  his  namesake,  Nelson, 
did  upon  the  element  for  which  he  seemed 
called  into  existence — and  who  stood,  for  the 
fame  he  acquired,  in  a  somewhat  similar  rela- 
tion to  Methodism,  that  the  hero  of  the  Nile 
did  to  the  British  nation.  In  the  course  of  the 
service,  a  person  prepared  for  the  work  by  in- 
toxication, having  had  three  quarts  of  ale  given 


16  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

to  him  by  three  Roman  Catholics,  who  urged 
him  to  the  onset,  made  considerable  disturbance. 
The  people  were  annoyed,  and  the  preacher 
was  thwarted  in  his  purpose.  The  man  exhi- 
bited in  his  hand  a  piece  of  paper,  from  which 
he  either  read  or  pretended  to  read;  and  being 
possessed  of  a  powerful  voice,  he  elevated  it  in 
true  stentorian  style,  and  by  force  of  lungs  ren- 
dered the  feebler  voice  of  the  preacher  inau- 
dible. A  chain  of  circumstances  contributed  to 
preserve  the  case  alive  in  Samuel's  recollec- 
tion. The  man  was  personally  known  to  him 
— he  continued  to  reside  in  the  neighbourhood 
— afterward  lost  his  sight — was  supported  by 
begging  from  door  to  door — solicited  alms  from 
Samuel  himself,  when  the  latter  had  become  a 
householder — was  reminded  of  the  circumstance 
by  him,  and  was  either  hypocritical  or  honest 
enough  to  confess  his  belief  that  it  was  a  judg- 
ment from  God — expressed  his  sorrow — and 
finished  his  course  in  a  workhouse.  The  uses 
and  improvements  which  Samuel  made  of  cir- 
cumstances and  occasions  even  the  most  trivial, 
were  invariably  devotional,  and  often  pertinent. 
From  an  occurrence  like  the  present,  he  woujd, 
in  stating  it,  exclaim,  "  Though  hand  join  in 
hand,  the  wicked  shall  not  be  unpunished;" 
then,  with  his  usual  quickness,  his  eyes  spark- 
ling, and  beaming  with  a  fine  flow  of  grateful 
feeling,  he  would  advert  to  the  difference  be- 
tween earlier  and  more  modern  times,  exulting 
in  the  quiet  which  reigned  around,  "  every  man" 
being   permitted,   in    patriarchal   simplicity,   to 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  17 

"sit"  and  to  shelter  himself  "under  his  vine 
and  under  his  fig-tree,"  the  hand  of  persecution 
not  being  raised  "  to  make  him  afraid." 

His  attention  having  been  once  drawn  to  the 
subject  of  religion,  by  the  peculiarities  of  Me- 
thodism, it  was  soon  reawakened  by  the  return 
of  the  preachers,  whose  visits,  from  the  compa- 
ratively small  numbers  of  labourers  employed, 
were  more  like  the  return  of  the  seasons,  set- 
ting in,  earlier  or  liter,  and  at  wider  distances, 
than  the  regular  succession  of  week  after  week, 
or  month  after  month.  This  irregularity,  occa- 
sioned by  calls  to  new  fields  of  usefulness,  ren- 
dered their  visits,  like  the  return  of  spring,  the 
more  welcome  to  religious  persons,  and  pre- 
served on  the  face  of  the  whole  an  air  of  no- 
velty among  the  profane,  which  frequent  repe- 
tition, by  producing  familiarity,  might  have  de- 
stroyed. Whoever  might  have  been  the  minis- 
ters, whether  in  or  out  of  the  Established 
Church,  that  he  heard — and  whatever  might 
have  been  the  impressions  received,  not  any 
thing  of  personal  importance  is  recorded,  till  the 
lapse  of  a  second  seven  years,  when,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  he  was  bound  an  apprentice  to  Ed- 
ward Derby,  of  Healaugh,  near  Tadcaster,  to 
learn  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith.  Here  he  ap- 
pears to  have  been  placed  in  a  situation  favour- 
able, in  some  respects,  for  religious  improve- 
ment ;  and  in  three  sentences,  the  full  power 
of  which,  when  tried  upon  the  mind  of  another 
person,  he  scarcely  understood,  he  has  struck 
off  a  sketch  of  his  own  conduct  while  filling 
2 


18  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

that  situation.  He  states,  that  he  had  a  "  com 
fortable  lime,"  that  "  the  Lord  gave"  him  "  fa- 
vour in  the  eyes  of  the  people,"  and  that  he 
''"never  troubled"  his  "parents  for  any  thing 
during"  his  "  apprenticeship."  We  have  in 
this,  in  the  way  of  implication  at  least,  his  cha- 
racter as  a  servant,  a  neighbour,  and  a  child ;  for 
had  he  not  been  diligent  and  faithful  as  a  ser- 
vant, kind  and  obliging  as  a  neighbour,  tender 
and  thoughtful  as  a  child,  there  is  not  any  thing 
to  induce  us  to  believe  that  he  could  either  have 
been  comjortablc  in  his  service,  participated  in 
the  favour  of  those  around  him,  or  that  his  pa- 
rents would  have  been  exempt  from  trouble, 
owing  to  demands  made  both  upon  their  pockets 
and  their  patience. 

He  had  not  been  long  in  his  situation  before 
curiosity  led  him  to  a  lovefeast,  which  was  held 
in  a  barn,  at  Healaugh.  A  good  man  of  the 
same  trade  with  himself  was  the  door-keeper  ; 
and  either  through  a  kindly  feeling  on  that  ac- 
count, or  from  his  having  perceived  something 
in  Samuel's  general  demeanour,  which  excited 
his  hope,  he  permitted  him  to  pass,  and  ordered 
him  to  mount  the  straw,  which  was  piled  up  in 
a  part  of  the  building,  in  order  to  make  room  for 
the  people.  It  was  not  long  before  the  door- 
keeper left  his  post,  and  advancing  toward  the 
body  of  the  congregation,  commenced  the  ser- 
vice, lie  remarked,  in  figurative  language, 
when  describing  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  his  heart,  that  "  the  lire  was  burn- 
ing," and   that  he  "  felt  it  begin   at  the  door." 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  19 

So  gross  were  the  conceptions  of  Samuel,  so 
ignorant  was  he  of  the  ordinary  phraseology  of 
Christians,  that,  like  Nicodemus  on  another 
subject,  he  took  the  term  fire  in  its  literal  ac- 
ceptation, and  in  an  instant  his  fears  were 
roused,  his  imagination  was  at  work,  and  his 
eye  was  directed  to  the  door.  Ho  deemed  his 
situation  among  the  straw  as  one  of  the  most 
hazardous,  and  in  his  imaginings  saw  himself 
enveloped  in  flame.  He  continued  to  fix  an 
anxious  eye  upon  the  entrance,  but  on  perceiv- 
ing, as  he  expressed  himself,  neither  "  smoke 
nor  fire,"  his  fears  were  gradually  allayed,  and 
he  again  lent  an  attentive  ear  to  the  worthy 
man,  who  had  borrowed  his  simile,  in  all  proba- 
bility, from  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in 
"  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire,"  and  whose  feel- 
ings seemed  to  accord  with  those  which  stirred  in 
the  bosom  of  the  psalmist,  when  he  said,  "  My 
heart  was  hot  within  me  :  while  I  was  musing 
the  fire  burned :  then  spake  I  with  my  tongue.'' 
There  were  two  particulars  which  impressed 
the  mind  of  Samuel,  and  which  he  afterward 
pondered  in  his  heart ;  the  one  was  the  high 
value  which  the  speaker  stamped  upon  his 
office,  and  upon  the  place,  dignifying  the  old 
barn  with  the  title  of  a  place  of  worship,  and 
affirming  that  he  "  had  rather  be  a  door-keeper 
in  the  house  of  God,  than  to  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  wickedness  ;"  and  the  other  was  his  declara- 
tion of  a  knowledge  of  the  fact,  that  his  sins 
were  forgiven.  Samuel  could  not  conceive 
how    the    temporary    appropriation    of  such   a 


20  Till-;    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

place  to  divine  worship,  &c,  could  constitute  it 
"  the  house  of  God,"  or  what  honour  or  plea- 
sure a  man  could  derive  from  the  apparently 
humiliating  circumstance  of  keeping  watch  over 
a  door  that  many  would  be  ashamed  to  enter. 
But  the  knowledge  of  forgiveness  puzzled  him 
most,  and  in  this  he  seemed  to  have  a  personal 
concern.  His  spirit  clung  to  the  fact,  and  he 
could  not  help  wishing  that  the  case  were  his 
own — that  he  knew  it  for  himself;  this  plainly 
implying  a  knowledge  of  sin,  though  probably 
he  was  not  painfully  oppressed  with  his  load. 
He  took  occasion  the  next  day  to  ask  his  mas- 
ter how  the  man  could  know  that  his  sins  were 
pardoned,  and  to  express  what  he  himself  felt 
on  the  subject, — a  circumstance  which  would 
lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  his  master  possessed 
something  more  than  the  mere  semblance  of 
Christianity,  though  not  sufficient  to  lead  him 
to  establish  the  practice  of  family  prayer. 

Whatever  was  the  knowledge  which  the 
master  imparted,  Samuel's  feelings  and  inquiries 
are  evident  indications  that  he  was  visited  with 
"  drawings  from  above  ;"  and  these  were  fos- 
tered soon  after  by  a  local  preacher  from  York,  of 
the  name  of  Thomas  Peace,  who,  while  preach- 
ing on  the  "  remission  of  sins,"  and  insisting  on 
a  knowledge  of  it,  confirmed  by  Scripture  all 
that  had  been  heard  from  the  lips  of  experience 
in  the  barn.  While  the  preacher  wept,' and 
expostulated  with  the  people,  Samuel  looked, 
and  listened,  and  also  wept :  but  with  him  the} 
were  tears  of  sympathy  ;   fur  in  his  boyish  sim- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITM.  21 

plicity  he  concluded  that  the  man  must  have 
just  come  from  the  grave  of  his  wife  ;  and  with 
equal  simplicity,  on  his  return  home,  he  in- 
quired of  his  master,  who  had  become  his 
oracle,  whether  it  was  not  on  account  of  the 
death  of  his  wife  that  the  preacher  had  been 
weeping.  His  master  told  him — and  this  is  an 
additional  proof  of  the  light  which  he  possessed 
— that  the  tenderness  manifested  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  love  of  God  which  was  shed 
abroad  in  his  heart,  inspiring  him  with  love  to 
his  fellow-creatures.  This  was  too  high  for 
Samuel's  comprehension,  but  not  beyond  the 
feelings  of  his  heart.  He  loved  the  man  while 
hearing  him  preach,  but  loved  him  more  now, 
ardently  desired  his  return,  and  embraced  every 
opportunity  of  attending  his  preaching.  His 
heart  was  gradually  softening — the  great  sub- 
ject of  religion  was  constantly  revolving  in  his 
mind,  like  an  orb  of  light,  yet  he  was  unable  to 
fasten  his  thoughts  down  to  the  contemplation 
of  its  particular  parts,  with  the  exception  of  the 
doctrine  of  pardon — and  withal,  he  had  not 
power  over  moral  evil. 

In  1776,  when  he  had  attained  his  eight- 
eenth year,  it  being  customary  for  the  young 
people  of  the  neighbouring  towns  and  villages 
to  visit  the  city  of  York  on  Whit-Monday,  in 
order  to  witness  scenes  of  folly  and  dissipation, 
especially  wrestling-matches  and  fights,  the 
victors  having  prizes  conferred  upon  them,  he 
joined  his  companions,  repaired  to  the  spot, 
and  became  a  spectator.     But  being  naturally 


22  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

humane,  and  not  having  undergone  any  course 
of  brutal  discipline,  to  render  callous  the  better 
and  more  tender  feelings  of  his  heart,  he  was 
not  able  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  such  gladia- 
torial scenes, — scenes  more  worthy  of  Greece 
and  Rome  in  their  pagan  state,  than  of  Christian 
Britain.     This  was  not  his  element ;  it  was  to 
him  a  scene  of  "  misery   and  cruelty,"  as  he 
afterward  stated  ;   and  averting  his  eyes  from 
these    objects,    he    was  suddenly  attracted  by 
another  crowd  of  people  occupying  another  part 
of  the  same  public  ground,  encircling  a  person 
who  was  elevated  for  the  occasion,  and  seemed 
by  his  attitude  to  be  haranguing  his  hearers. 
Samuel  left  his  associates,  and  before  the  mad- 
dened yells  and  shouts  of  profanity  had  died 
upon  his  ear,  and  for  which  that  ear  had  not 
been  tuned,  he  was  saluted  with  a  hymn  ; — the 
two  extremes  furnishing  an  epitome  of  heaven 
and  hell — the  one  seen  from  the  other,  as  the 
rich  man  beheld  Lazarus,  only  with  this  impor- 
tant  difference   among   others,    no    impassable 
"gulf"  was   "fixed"  between;  "so  that  they 
which  would  pass  from"  one  to  the  other  might 
avail  themselves  of  the  privilege.      This  was  a 
moment  of  deep   interest ;  and  on  this  single 
act,  through  the   Divine   Being  putting  special 
honour  upon  it,  might  hinge  in  a  great  measure 
the  bearings  of  his  future  life.      He  was  partial 
to  singing,  and  as  the  hymn  was  sung  in  differ- 
ent  parts  he   was   the    more    delighted.     The 
conspicuous  figure  in  the  centre   was  the  late 
Richard  Burdsall,  of  York    father  of  the  Rev. 


THE    VILLAGE    M,Ai  ivSMlTH.  23 

John  BurdsaH,  who  had,  willi  his  usual  daring, 
entered  the  field  against  the  enemy,  and  was 
mounted  on  what  Samuel  designated  "  a  block," 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  him  a  greater  advan- 
tage over  his  auditory,  while  animadverting  on 
the  profligacy  of  the  times.*  Mr.  BurdsaH  was 
remarkably  popular  in  his  day,  and  was  just 
such  a  preacher  as  Samuel,  from  the  peculiar 
construction  of  his  own  mind,  was  likely  to  fix 
upon, — one  who  would,  on  comparing  the  one 
with  the  other,  have  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
-ame  class  at  school,  in  which  Samuel  would 
have  been  placed  at  the  foot ;  both  being^  for 
the  class,  as  well  as  of  it, — only  the  one  having 
attained  to  greater  proficiency  than  the  other,  in 
a  somewhat  similar  line.f 

Samuel's  attention  was  soon  gained,  and  his 
affection  won,  which,  to  Mr.  BurdsaH,  was  of 
no  small  importance  ;  for  as  he  was  proceeding 
with  the  service,  a  clergyman  advanced  toward 
him,  declaring  that  "  he  should  not  preach 
there,  not  if  he  were  the  Lord  Mayor  him- 
self,'' threatening  to  "  pull  him  down  from  the 

♦The  Wesleyan  Methodists  have  always  heen  distin 
guisheil  for  their  zealous  attempts  to  reclaim  the  worst  part 
of  human  nature  frit:  for  this  purpose  they  have  resorted  to 
markets,  feasts,  and  fairs  ;  and  in  looking  at  the  situation  of 
some  of  their  oldest  chapels,  Whitby  and  oilier  places,  it 
will  he  found  that  they  frequently  pitched  their  lents  in  the 
most  Sodomitish  parts  of  a  town,  with  a  view  to  improve  the 
more  depraved  as  well  as  the  lower  grades  of  society. 

tQuaintness,  «it,  and  imagination,  were  rarely  alisent  in 
Mr.  B.  Speaking  to  the  writer  once,  in  the  city  of  York, 
on  his  early  call  to  the  ministry,  he  said,  "  1  seem  10  tiave 
been  something  like  a  partridge  :  1  ran  away  with  the  shell 
':n  my  head." 


24  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

block."  Just  as  lie  was  preparing  to  carry  his 
designs  into  execution,  Samuel,  whose  love  to 
the  preacher  was  such,  that  he  felt,  as  he  ob- 
served, as  if  he  "  could  lose  the  last  drop  of" 
his  "  blood"  in  his  defence,  stepped  up  to  the 
clergyman,  clenched  his  hands,  and  holding 
them  in  a  menacing  form  to  his  face,  accosted 
him  in  the  abrupt  and  measured  terms  of  the 
ring  upon  which  he  had  but  a  few  minutes  be- 
fore been  gazing, — "  Sir,  if  you  disturb  that 
man  of  God,  I  will  drop  you  as  sure  as  ever 
you  were  born."  There  was  too  much  empha- 
sis in  the  expression,  and  too  much  fire  in  the 
eye,  to  admit  a  doubt  that  he  was  in  earnest. 
The  reverend  gentleman  felt  the  force  of  it — 
his  countenance  changed — the  storm  which  was 
up  in  Samuel  had  allayed  the  tempest  in  him — 
and  he  looked  with  no  small  concern  for  an 
opening  in  the  crowd,  by  which  he  might  make 
his  escape.  Samuel,  though  unchanged  by  di- 
vine grace,  had  too  much  nobleness  of  soul  in 
him  to  trample  upon  an  opponent  who  was  thus 
in  a  state  of  humiliation  before  him  ;  and  there- 
fore generously  took  him  under  his  protection, 
made  a  passage  for  him  through  the  audience, 
and  conducted  him  to  the  outskirts  without  mo- 
lestation, when  he  quickly  disappeared.  The 
manner  in  which  this  was  done,  the  despatch 
employed,  and  the  sudden  calm  after  the  com- 
motion, must  have  produced  a  kind  of  dramatic 
effect  on  the  minds  of  religious  persons,  who. 
nevertheless,  in  the  midst  of  their  surprise 
gratitude    and  even  harmless  mirth  at  the  pre- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  25 

cipitate  flight  of  their  disturber,  who  was  con- 
verted in  an  instant  by  a  mere  stripling  from 
the  lion  to  the  timid  hare,  would  be  no  more 
disposed  to  justify  the  clenched  fist, — the  earth 
helping  the  woman  in  this  way, — than  they  could 
be  brought  to  approve  of  the  zeal  of  Peter, 
when,  by  a  single  stroke,  he  cut  off  the  right 
ear  of  the  high  priest's  servant.  Samuel  in 
stantly  resumed  the  attitude  of  an  attentive 
hearer,  without  any  apparent  emotions  from 
what  had  just  transpired.  In  the  launching 
forth  of  his  hand,  he  gave  as  little  warning  as 
the  thunderbolt  of  heaven  ;  the  flash  of  his  eye 
was  like  the  lightning's  glare — a  sudden  burst 
of  passion,  withering  for  a  moment — seen — and 
gone. 

The  following  good  effects  resulted  from  this 
sermon — a  high  respect  for  the  preacher,  and  a 
stronger  attachment  to  the  Methodists  as  a  peo- 
ple ;  both  having  a  tendency  to  lead  him  to  the 
use  of  the  means  by  which  the  Divine  Being 
conveys  grace  to  the  hearts  of  his  creatures. 
He  remarked,  that,  after  this  period,  in  following 
Mr.  Burdsall  from  place  to  place,  he  travelled 
"  many  scores  of  miles,"  and  that  he  "  never 
heard"  him  without  being  "  blessed"  under  his 
preaching.  His  feelings  were  in  unison  with 
those  which  dictated  Ruth's  address  to  Naomi, 
"  Whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go ;  thy  people 
shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  Go,d  ;" 
and  as  far  as  circumstances  would  admit,  and 
he  had  light  to  discover  the  truth,  he  laboured 
to  give  vent  to  the  overflowings  of  his  heart. 


26  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

His  case  was  one  which  would  lead  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  his  religion  commenced  in  heat 
rather  than  light;  that  he  continued  for  some 
time,  even  beyond  this  period,  more  the  subject 
of  impression  than  of  instruction ;  felt,  in  short, 
what  he  was  unable  to  express  to  others,  and 
for  which  he  could  not  account  to  himself.  He 
had  been  touched  by  the  wand  of  Moses  at 
Horeb,  which  had  unlocked  some  of  the  secret 
springs  of  his  heart,  and  put  them  in  motion, 
rather  than  been  in  the  tabernacle  with  Aaron 
the  priest,  illuminated  and  perfected  by  the 
Urim  and  the  Thumrain.  His  heart  was  much 
more  assailable  than  his  head,  and,  as  will  af- 
terward appear,  was  much  more  at  work  through 
life,  and  had  a  more  commanding  influence 
over  his  conduct.  Divine  light  was  admitted 
but  slowly,  not  so  much  through  any  violent 
opposition  to  it,  or  any  process  of  reasoning 
carried  on  in  his  mind  against  any  of  the  par- 
ticular doctrines  of  the  gospel,  as  through  a 
want  of  power  to  arrange  and  classify  his 
thoughts,  to  connect  one  subject  with  another, 
to  trace  effects  to  their  causes  ;  a  want  of  the 
means  of  information,  as  well  as  a  relish  for 
reading,  had  the  means  been  at  hand  ;  a  cer- 
tain quickness  in  catching  particular  points, 
which  led  him  to  think  as  some  Hibernians  are 
Led  to  speak  ;  and  a  peculiarly  animated  tem- 
perament, which  disposed  him  to  warm  himself 
at  the  fire  of  the  Christian  altar,  rather  than 
silently  gaze  upon  a  cloudless  sky,  the  splendid 
canopy  of  the    great   temple   of   the    universe. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  27 

He  seemed,  in  fact,   to   carry   the  more  fiery 
part  of  his  trade  into  his  religion,  as  he  subse- 
quently carried  every  part  of  his  religion  into 
his  trade.     Full  of  the  best  and  warmest  feeling 
for  the   religion  of   Christ  and  its  professors, 
>»nd  using  the  means  in  order  to  attain  it,  he 
was  now  in  a  hopeful  way,  not  only  of  verging 
toward  it,  but  of  entering  into  its  genuine  spirit. 
To  these  kindlings,  yieldings,  and  advance*,, 
was  at  length  added  conviction,  though  not  the 
most  poignant.     The    clouds    which    overhung 
his  mind  began  to  break  away.     This  was  ef- 
fected by  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley. 
The    chronology  of  this    event    is    placed   by 
Samuel's    widow    in   the    fifteenth  year  of  his 
age  ;    but  by   himself,  after  the   period   of  his 
having  heard  Mr.  Burdsall  :   and  although  the 
memory  of  the  former  is  generally  more  to  be 
depended  upon  than  that  of  the  latter,  yet  in 
this  case  Samuel  was  probably  the  more  cor- 
rect of  the  two.     It  was  in  the  old  chapel  at 
Leeds  where  he  heard  the  founder  of  Method- 
ism ;  and   he    scarcely   appears  to  have  been 
sufficiently  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
personal  salvation,  during  the  first  year  of  his 
apprenticeship,  to  lead  him  so  many  miles  from 
home  to  hear  a  sermon  ;  nor  does  he  refer  to 
any  thing  that  seems  to  amount  to  conviction 
prior  to  his  York  excursion.     Still,  the  date  is 
of  minor  importance,  provided  the  fact  be  se- 
cured ;  and  the  principal  point  to  be  attended 
to  is  that  of  tracing  the  progressive   steps  by 
which  he  was  led  to  the  knowledge  of  himself 


28  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

and  of  God,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  "pure  and 
undefiled  religion."  On  entering  the  chapel, 
he  was  awed  and  delighted  at  Mr.  Wesley's 
appearance,  who,  according  to  his  conceptions 
of  angelic  beings,  seemed  at  first  sight  to  be 
"  something  more  than  man,"  even  "  an  angel' 
of  God.  This  prepossession  in  favour  of  the 
preacher,  naturally  prepared  the  way  for  a 
speedy  reception  of  the  truths  delivered.  There 
was  one  subject,  however,  and  all  in  favour  oi 
the  preacher  which  Samuel  was  at  a  loss  to 
comprehend.  Mr.  Wesley's  prophetic  soul 
was  led  out,  in  some  part  of  the  discourse,  to 
connect  with  the  revival  of  religion  which  was 
going  on,  more  glorious  times  ;  intimating  that 
when  his  dust  should  mingle  with  the  clods  of 
the  valley,  ministers  more  eminently  successful 
than  either  himself  or  others  by  whom  he  was 
surrounded,  would  be  raised  to  perpetuate  and 
extend  the  work.  Not  distinguishing  between 
ministerial  talent  and  ministerial  usefulness, 
Samuel  thought  Mr.  Wesley  intimated  that 
greater  preachers  than  himself  would  supply  his 
place  ;  thus  giving  Mr.  Wesley  the  credit  of 
indirectly  associating  himself  with  the  great, 
though  greater  were  to  tread  in  his  steps. 
Samuel,  according  to  his  own  exposition  of  Mr. 
Wesley's  words,  could  not  conceive  it  within 
ihc  range  of  possibility  for  any  one  to  equal, 
much  more  to  surpass  him ;  for,  to  use  his  own 
language,  "  he  preached  like  an  angel."  The 
text  was,  "  Show  me  thy  faith  without  thy 
works,  and   T   will  show  you  my  faith  by  my 


Tllii    villauL    BLACKSMITH.  29 

works/'  James  ii,  18.  In  addition  to  Mr.  Wes- 
ley's appearance,  and  his  exalted  character  as 
a  preacher,  we  discover  part  of  the  secret  of 
Samuel's  estimate  of  him  in  himself.  It  might 
now  be  said  of  him,  as  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  "  And 
there  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had  been  scales  ;" 
immediately  his  mental  vision  was  rendered 
more  acute,  as  well  as  enlarged.  On  hearing 
Mr.  Wesley,  he  emphatically  "  received  his 
sight,"  and  that  too  in  the  most  important  sense  ; 
he  had  listened  to  one,  of  whom  he  might  have 
said,  not  indeed  as  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
"  Come,  see  a  man  that  has  told  me  all  things  that 
ever  I  did,"  but  "Come,  see  a  man  that  has  told 
me  all  things  of  which  I  am  destitute."  Though 
he  could  not  give  any  correct  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  subject  was  treated,  there 
was  one  conclusion  which  he  was  enabled  to 
draw  from  the  whole,  and  which  penetrated  too 
deeply  for  him  ever  to  forget,  that  he  possessed 
neither  faith  nor  works  which  God  could  either 
approve  or  accept. 

In  no  previous  instance  had  the  hand  of  God 
been  so  visible  as  in  this  ;  and  the  state  of  the 
subject  of  the  memoir  may  be  illustrated  by  that 
of  one  of  two  persons  shut  up  in  a  dark  room, 
where  the  other,  having  seen  it  by  daylight,  ex- 
patiates to  his  fellow  an  hour  or  two  on  its 
height,  length,  width,  and  form,  the  nakedness 
and  colour  of  the  walls,  with  all  its  other  pecu- 
liarities. From  the  description  given,  aided  by 
his  blind  attempts  to  feel  his  way  into  every 
corner  and  lay  his  hand  upon  every  thing  with- 


30  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

in  his  reach,  the  hearer  may  be  able  to  form 
some  conception  of  the  apartment  and  situation 
in  which  he  stands.  But  it  is  easy  to  conceive 
that  a  third  person  opening  the  door,  and  enter- 
ing the  room  with  a  lighted  taper  in  his  hand, 
would  throw  more  light  upon  the  subject  in  one 
single  moment,  than  a  person  of  the  highest  de- 
scriptive powers,  through  description  alone, 
could  do  in  twelve  hours.  This,  though  not  a 
perfect  illustration,  is  sufficient  for  the  present 
purpose  :  Samuel  had  heard  preaching  repeat- 
edly ;  a  description  of  the  moral  condition  of 
man,  of  the  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  of  the 
awful  and  glorious  realities  of  an  invisible  world, 
of  every  thing,  in  short,  connected  with  man  as 
the  subject  of  the  moral  government  of  God, 
had  been  given  in  the  discourses  which  he  had 
heard  ;  but  through  his  own  supineness,  his 
not  asking  for  divine  aid,  or,  if  he  asked,  his 
asking  amiss,  he  remained  in  the  "  darkness" 
of  ignorance,  error,  and  unbelief,  without 
"  light"  to  guide  him  either  in  his  conceptions, 
his  decisions,  or  his  walk.  He,  however,  who 
commanded  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  com- 
manded it  here  to  shine  into  darkness  ;  a  pure 
ray  was  shot  from  the  Sun  of  righteousness, 
illuminating  all  within.  Samuel  found  the 
"  house"  empty  of  all  good,  not  swept  of  evil,  nor 
garnished  with  holiness.  It  was  light  which 
produced  a  conviction,  not  so  much  of  the  pre- 
sence of  evil,  as  of  the  absence  of  good.  He 
saw  that  he  was  * poor" and ." naked"  and  had 
till  now   been  "blind;"'  but  the  negative  cha- 


THE     VILLAGE     1SLAC  .'KSMITU.  31 

racter  of  his  conviction  did  not  constitute  him 
"wretched?  because  of  si?i,  or  "miserable"  be- 
cause of  the  enormity  of  that  sin.  The  flaming 
sword  was  permitted  to  turn  only  in  one  direc- 
tion ;  other  operations  were  apparently  re- 
strained, when  the  present  had  its  full  effect, 
and  the  subject  was  more  fully  prepared  for 
their  exercise.  The  Holy  Spirit  had  been  al- 
ready in  operation,  softening  and  gently  impress- 
ing the  heart,  all  preparatory  to  a  farther  work 
of  grace.  There  was  fire,  as  has  been  previ- 
ously stated  ;  but  it  was  fire  without  flame,  fire 
smouldering  under  ashes,  and  consequently  in- 
capable of  emitting  the  beneficial  light.  It  was 
now  that  the  shades  of  night,  in  which  he  had 
been  so  long  enveloped,  seemed  to  say,  as  the 
angel  said  to  Jacob,  "  Let  us  go,  for  the  day 
breaketh." 


CHAPTER   II. 

Ho  leaves  his  master  before  the  expiration  of  his  appren- 
ticeship—  Is  providentially  directed  to  a  suitable  situation, 
and  commences  business  for  himself — His  marriage — His 
benevolence — Death  of  his  wife's  mother — Is  alarmed  by  a 
dream — Obtains  mercy — Suddenness  of  his  conversion — lis 
fruits — His  zeal — Answer  to  prayer,  and  effects  of  his  ex- 
postulation with  u  landlady — Summary  of  the  evidence  of 
his  conversion. 

It  has  been  quaintly,  but  significantly  ob- 
served, in  reference  to  the  providential  lot  of 
human  beings,  that  "  every  peg  has  its  hole  " 


32  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  primary  design  of 
the  remark,  it  is  certainly  applicable  to  the  no- 
tions of  personal  comfort  and  probable  useful- 
ness ;  the  former  effected  by  the  adaptation  of 
the  pin  to  the  place  and  of  the  place  to  the  pin, 
and  the  latter  by  its  projection,  going  beyond 
itself,  so  to  speak,  affording  an  opportunity, 
both  to  friends  and  strangers,  of  suspending 
upon  its  form  whatever  they  may  desire,  whe- 
ther from  inclination  or  necessity.  And  the 
man  who  permits  his  Maker  to  "choose"  his 
*'  inheritance"  for  him,  will  rarely  be  placed  in  a 
situation  in  which  it  will  be  impossible  for 
some  of  his  fellow-creatures  to  hang  upon  him 
their  hopes,  their  weaknesses,  and  their  wants. 
This  will  apply  with  equal  propriety  to  persons 
in  humble  life,  as  to  persons  in  the  more  ele- 
vated ranks  of  society.  We  are  taught  the  doc- 
trine of  a  wise  and  bountiful  Providence  in  the 
fall  of  a  "sparrow,"  and  in  the  adomings  of 
"  the  lilies,"  of  a  Providence  which  is  both  per- 
missive and  active  in  its  operations,  directing  in 
the  outset,  and  entering  into  the  minutest  cir- 
cumstances of  human  life.  General  observa- 
tion would  almost  warrant  the  belief,  that  there 
is  a  starting  point  for  every  man,  later  or  earlier 
in  life,  subject  to  his  own  choice  :  and  in  pro- 
portion as  he  proceeds  along  the  line,  or  devi- 
ates from  it,  will  be  the  amount  of  his  success 
or  adversity,  connecting  with  the  situation,  in 
the  person  that  holds  it,  industry,  economy,  and 
integrity.  The  principal  difficulty  is  in  the 
choice.      Religiously  to  determine  this,  we  ought 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  33 

never  to  lose  sight  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  personal  competency,  and  general  useful- 
ness. Several  of  these  remarks  will  apply  to 
the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

Though  Samuel  had  acted  in  the  capacity  of 
a  faithful  servant  to  his  master  for  some  years, 
a  circumstance  took  place  which  led  to  a  sepa- 
ration before  the  expiration  of  his  apprentice- 
ship. His  master's  daughter  had  conceived  an 
attachment  to  him,  which  was  returned,  though 
not  to  the  same  extent,  by  Samuel.  This  natu- 
rally led  to  certain  domestic  attentions,  in 
which  the  young  woman  contributed  to  his 
comforts  ;  and  having  a  little  money  at  com- 
iikukI,  she  occasionally  assisted  him,  with  a 
view  to  give  strength  to  the  bond  which  sub- 
sisted. His  master  coming  down  stairs  one 
morning,  a  little  earlier  than  usual,  found  him 
seated  with  Miss  Derby  on  his  knee.  He  in- 
stantly returned,  and  told  his  wife,  whom  he 
had  left  in  bed ;  and  after  opening  the  circum- 
stance, said,  "  I  believe  she  is  as  fond  of  the 
lad  as  ever  a  cow  was  of  a  calf."  On  again 
descending  the  stairs,  he  chided  them  both,  and 
signified  his  disapprobation  of  all  attachment. 
The  day  passed  on,  with  evident  indications 
that  the  master  was  brooding  on  the  subject ; 
and  at  length  he  ordered  Samuel,  with  a  good 
deal  of  angry  feeling,  to  leave  his  house  and  his 
service.  The  dismissal  having  been  given  at 
an  evening  hour,  Samuel  requested  permission 
to  remain  till  the  next  day,  which  was  granted. 
To  prevent  any  matrimonial  connection  from 
3 


34  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

taking  place  between  them,  the  father,  on 
Samuel's  removal,  contrived  to  form  a  union 
between  his  daughter  and  a  person  of  some 
property,  but  much  her  senior,  offering  as  an 
inducement  a  handsome  dowry.  Miss  I),  wrote 
to  Samuel  the  day  previous  to  her  marriage,  re- 
questing him  to  meet  her  at  a  specified  time 
and  place,  pledging  herself  to  him  for  ever,  as 
the  sole  object  of  her  first  affection.  Poor 
Samuel  was  placed  in  circumstances  at  the 
time  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  escape  ; 
and  the  fitful  moment  glided  away  from  both 
without  improvement,  to  their  inexpressible 
grief.  As  this  was  a  compulsory  measure,  the 
bride  gave  her  hand  without  ber  heart ;  her 
spirits  shortly  afterward  became  depressed,  and 
confirmed  insanity  ensued.  Samuel  was  sent 
for  by  her  friends — he  obeyed  the  summons — 
the  sight  of  him  increased  her  malady,  and  add- 
ed to  the  poignancy  of  his  own  feelings — he 
hastily  withdrew — and  she  died  soon  after. 
As  an  affair  of  honour,  it  may  be  said,  "  In  all 
this"  Samuel  "sinned  not."*  Abandoned,  how- 
ever, as  he  was,  by  his  master,  the  Lord  di- 
rected him  by  his  providence. 

Without  giving  the  West  Yorkshire  dialect, 
which  he  wrote  as  well  as  spoke,  and  which  it 
would  be  as  difficult  for  persons  in  the  southern 

♦Old  Mrs.  Derby,  whfl survived  Samuel,  and  was  living  at 
Healaugh,  in  1831,  in  the  90th  year  of  her  ago,  was  very 
partial  to  him,  always  styling  him,  "  Our  Sam,  and  Mr.  I)., 
on  seeing  hi*  daughter's  distress,  was  heard  to  say,  "  O  that 
I  had  let  Sammy  nave  my  lass!"  Samuel  paid  occasional 
'•>  hi*  old  mistrei  s  to  the  end  of  his  days. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  35 

counties  of  England  to  read  and  to  understand, 
without  a  glossary,  as  the  "  Lancashire  dialect," 
the  substance  of  his  relation,  when  "  entering 
upon  the  world,"  to  employ  a  familiar  phrase, 
is  clear,  simple,  and  touching.  "  When  I  was 
one  and  twenty  years  of  age,"  he  states,  "there 
was  a  shop  at  liberty,  at  Micklefield,  and  my 
father  took  it  for  me.  I  here  began  business 
for  myself;  and  when  I  had  paid  for  my  tools, 
I  was  left  without  a  penny  in  my  pocket,  or  a 
bit  of  bread  to  eat.  But  I  was  strong,  in  good 
health,  and  laboured  hard ;  and  that  God  who 
sent  the  ravens  to  feed  his  servant,  fed  me. 
One  day,  while  at  work,  a  man  came  into  my 
shop,  who  told  me  that  his  wife  had  fed  the 
pig  so  fat  as  to  render  it  useless  to  the  family, 
and  that  he  would  sell  me  the  one  half  of  it  very 
cheap.  I  told  him  that  I  wished  it  were  in  my 
power  to  make  the  purchase — that  I  was  much 
in  need,  but  that  I  was  without  money.  He 
replied,  he  would  trust  me  :  and  I  agreed  to 
take  it.  I  mentioned  the  circumstance  to  a 
neighbour,  who  offered  to  lend  me  five  pounds, 
which  I  accepted  :  and  out  of  this  I  paid  the 
man  for  what  I  had  bought.  I  continued  to  la- 
bour hard,  and  the  Lord,  in  his  abundant  good- 
ness, supplied  all  my  wants."  From  this  it 
would  seem  that  he  had  not  been  anxiously 
looking  in  every  direction  for  a  situation,  and 
that,  on  finding  every  providential  door  shut 
had  sat  down  to  quarrel  with  the  dispensations 
of  God,  or  made  some  hazardous  attempts  to 
force  an  opening :  nor  was  the  situation  at  first 


33  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

either  perceived  by  himself,  or  the  door — to  pro- 
ceed with  the  allusion — hut  slightly  turned  up- 
on its  hinges,  leaving  the  possibility  or  propriety 
of  entrance  still  problematical.  It  was  thrown 
open  by  the  hand  that  regulates  all  human  af- 
fairs— circumstances  invited  the  father  to  the 
spot — he  took  his  survey — Samuel,  having  been 
released  from  his  connection  with  his  master, 
found  the  occurrence  seasonable — poverty  was 
his  portion,  but  no  capital  was  requisite  for  the 
purchase  of  stock — previous  industry  and  eco- 
nomy prepared  him  to  meet  the  expense  of 
tools — his  father  led  him  up  to  the  door  which 
his  Maker  had  opened — labour  was  instantly 
furnished,  and  the  "  daily  bread,"  for  which  he 
was  commanded  to  pray,  was  supplied — the 
confidence  and  kindness  of  friends  encouraged 
him  to  proceed — and  there  he  continued,  suc- 
ceeded, and  was  afterward  useful.  Providence 
appeared  to  meet  him  at  every  turn,  and,  as  in 
a  piece  of  wedge-work,  adapted  its  movements 
to  all  the  peculiarities  of  his  case. 

After  having  been  established  in  business  for 
the  space  of  eighteen  months,  without  appa- 
rently elevating  his  mind  above  the  drudgery 
of  the  day,  he  meditated  a  change  in  his  do- 
mestic circumstances.  "  The  Lord,"  he  ob- 
serves, "  saw  that  I  wanted  a  helpmeet" — he 
knew  the  character  that  "  would  suit  me  best" 
— and  was  so  "  kind"  as  to  furnish  me  with 
"  one  of  his  own  choosing."  From  the  form  of 
expression  employed,  it  would  seem  that  there 
was   an  allusion  to  his  first  attachment,  which 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  37 

he  might  be  led  to  consider  as  not  of  God,  from 
the  circumstance  of  his  having  been  thwarted 
in  his  purpose.  His  courtship,  in  its  com- 
mencement and  termination,  preserves  the  sin- 
gularity which  distinguished  most  of  the  leading 
transactions  of  his  life.  His  partiality  to  sing- 
ing led  him  to  unite  himself  to  the  choir  that 
attended  Aberford  church,  which  union  con- 
tinued for  the  space  of  ten  years.  Here  he 
became  acquainted  with  her  who  was  destined 
to  be  his  bride,  and  to  survive  him  as  his  wi- 
dow. The  first  lime  he  saw  her,  which  was 
during  divine  service,  it  was  powerfully  im- 
pressed upon  his  mind  that  she  would  one  day 
become  his  wife.  Under  such  impression,  and 
in  great  simplicity,  he  walked  up  to  her  imme- 
diately on  leaving  the  church,  and  unbosomed 
his  feelings  and  thoughts  on  the  subject.  She 
heard  his  first  lispings  with  surprise,  and  felt 
their  force  ;  for  from  that  period  they  delighted 
in  each  other's  society,  and  were  finally  united 
in  holv  matrimony  in  Spofford  church.  She 
was  six  years  older  than  himself.  On  leaving 
the  hymeneal  altar,  and  reaching  the  church 
door,  a  number  of  poor  widows  pressed  around 
him  to  solicit  alms.  His  heart  was  touched  ; 
the  tear  was  in  his  eye ;  "  I  began  the  world," 
said  he  to  himself,  "  without  money,  and  I  will 
again  begin  it  straight."  The  thought  was  no 
sooner  conceived,  and  the  generous  impulse 
felt,  than  the  hand,  which  emptied  the  pocket, 
scattered  the  last  pence  of  which  he  was  pos- 
sessed  among    the    craving    applicants.     The 


38  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

bride  being  entitled  to  some  property,  and  work 
pouring  in  upon  him,  his  exhausted  stores  were 
soon  recruited  ;  and  believing  that  a  blessing 
followed  the  donation,  he  appended  to  a  narra- 
tive of  the  event,  in  a  tone  of  triumph,  "  The 
Lord  gave  me  a  good  wife,  and  I  have  never 
wanted  money  since  that  day." 

The  fine  glow  of  devotional  feeling  occasion- 
ally experienced  in  his  youth,  had  for  some 
time  become  extinct;  and  he  had  not  in  his 
present  situation  been  brought  into  contact  with 
any  decidedly  religious  character  to  revive  it, 
except  the  mother  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  Wesleyan  connection.  He  complained 
that  at  this  period  his  wife  and  himself  were 
"  both  strangers  to  saving  grace" — that  "  the 
parish"  could  not  boast  of  a  single  Methodist, 
and  that  there  was  not  "  one"  of  his  "  own 
family  that  knew  the  Lord."  His  mother-in- 
law,  who,  it  would  seem,  did  not  reside  in  the 
same  parish  with  himself,  often  spoke  to  him  on 
the  subject  of  religion,  and  interceded  with  God 
both  for  him  and  his  partner.  Example,  ex- 
hortation, and  prayer  were  ineffectual.  The 
appeal  was  to  be  made  to  the  passions ;  and 
through  these  was  the  entrance  to  be  made, 
which  would  effect  his  deliverance  from  the 
thraldom  of  Satan.  His  mother-in-law  sickened 
and  died.  The  happiness  she  experienced  in 
her  last  hours  softened  the  heart  and  reawak- 
ened the  attention  of  Samuel  to  the  concerns  of 
his  soul.     Tins    however,  but  for  what  he  de- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  39 

nominated  a  "  vision,"  had  been  "  as  the  early 
dew  that  passeth  away." 

Three  days  after  her  dissolution,  he  dreamed 
that  she  appeared  to  him  arrayed  in  white,  took 
him  by  the  hand,  and  affectionately  warned 
him  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  ;  stating, 
that  if  he  did  not  repent  he  would  never  meet 
her  in  the  paradise  of  God.  At  the  close  of 
the  address,  the  visionary  form  vanished ;  con- 
viction, while  he  slumbered,  seized  his  spirit ; 
he  awoke  in  terror,  and,  to  use  his  own  lan- 
guage, "jumped  out  of  bed,"  thus  furnishing 
another  exposition  of  the  language  of  the  "  man 
in  the  land  of  Uz,"— "  When  I  say,  My  bed 
shall  comfort  me,  my  couch  shall  ease  my  com- 
plaint ;  then  thou  scarest  me  with  dreams,  and 
terrifiest  me  through  visions."  This  sudden 
spring  from  the  bed  roused  his  wife  :  his  groans 
and  distress  alarmed  her ;  and  supposing  him 
to  have  been  suddenly  seized  with  some  com- 
plaint that  threatened  his  life,  she  was  proceed- 
ing to  awaken  the  neighbours,  and  to  call  them 
to  her  assistance,  when  she  was  arrested  in  her 
course,  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  with  which 
she  was  surrounded,  with  a  sentence  wrung 
from  the  depths  of  his  agonized  spirit,  and  ut- 
tered in  sobs  :  "  I  want  Jesus — Jesus,  to  pardon 
all  my  sins."  It  was  sufficient  for  her  to  know 
that  he  was  not  in  immediate  danger  from 
ailliction  ;  her  fears  were  therefore  quickly  dis- 
sipated, but  she  could  afford  him  no  consola- 
tion. This  he  seemed  to  feel,  and  observed, 
"  1  had  no  Paul  to  say  to  me,  '  Believe  on  the 


40  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved ; 
nor  any  praying  wife  to  pray  for  me."  It  was 
the  midnight  of  desolation  ;  and  the  only  light 
by  which  the  way  of  mercy  could  be  discovered, 
■was  from  within.  The  flood  of  day  which  was 
poured  upon  his  mind  was  as  strong  as  it  was 
sudden  ;  and  differing  in  degree  from  that  with 
which  he  was  visited  under  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Wesley,  he  now  beheld  both  sides  of  his  case, 
not  only  the  absence  of  all  good,  but  the  presence 
of  real  evil.  "  My  eyes,"  said  he,  "  were 
opened — I  saw  all  the  sins  I  had  committed 
through  the  whole  course  of  my  life — I  was 
like  the  psalmist — I  cried  out  like  the  jailer." 
He  added  with  considerable  emphasis,  "  I  did 
say  my  prayers,"  continuing,  "  as  1  never  did 
before  ;"  meaning  that  he  had  only  said  them 
previously  to  this  period.  He  further  observed 
that  it  might,  have  been  said  of  him,  as  of  Saul, 
"  Behold  he  prai/cth." 

The  ministerial  instruction  which  he  had  at 
different  periods  received,  led  him,  in  the  midst 
of  much  ignorance  on  other  subjects,  to  adopt 
the  proper  means,  and  to  look  to  the  true  source 
of  happiness,  in  order  to  its  attainment.  He 
had  heard  of  one  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  like  Saul  ; 
and  though  that  Jesus  had  not  before  been  ex- 
perimentally revealed  to  him,  yet  such  was  the 
nature  of  the  light  which  he  received,  that  it 
enabled  him  to  recognise  in  IIim  from  whom  it 
proceeded  the  face  of  a  Saviour,  and  a  Friend. 
The  Sun  of  righteousness,  like  the  orb  of  day, 
discovers  himself  by  his  own  shining.     It  is  in 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  41 

his  light  that  we  see  light.  Samuel  was  in  the 
light,  in  the  midst  of  natural  darkness  ;  and 
though  he  could  not  hear  the  prayers  of  a  wife, 
he  had  confidence  in  the  intercession  of  a  Sa- 
viour. "Jesus,"  said  he,  "was  my  advocate; 
I  put  in  my  case,  and  he  pleaded  for  me  before 
the  throne  of  God.  I  believed  that  the  blood 
of  Christ  was  shed  for  me  ;  and  the  moment  I 
believed,  I  found  peace.  1  could  adopt  the  lan- 
guage of  the  poet : — 

'  My  God  is  reconciled, 

His  pard'ning  voice  I  hear; 
He  owns  me  for  his  child, 

I  can  no  longer  fear; 
With  confidence  I  now  draw  nigh, 
And,  Father,  Abba,  Father,  cry.'  " 

His  state,  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  natural 
world,  afforded  a  fair  exemplification  of  the 
change  through  which  he  passed.  He  reposed 
himself  in  darkness — lay  in  that  darkness,  like 
the  dead  in  the  tomb — and  was  passing  through 
this  insensible  state  to  the  light  of  another  day. 
On  the  same  evening,  as  a  sinner  before  his 
God,  he  lay  down  in  the  darkness  of  a  deeper 
night  than  that  which  veils  the  face  of  nature — 
was  the  subject  of  a  more  terrible  death  than 
that  of  which  sleep  is  but  the  image — awoke  in 
spiritual  light — and  was,  ere  the  natural  light 
broke  upon  his  eye,  enabled  to  exult  in  the 
dawn  of  a  fairer  morning  than  ever  beamed  up- 
on our  earth — a  morning  which  can  only  be 
surpassed  by  the  morning  of  the  resurrection, 
when  the  just  shall  kindle  into  life  at  the  sight 


42  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  to  which  this 
through  the  vivifying  rays  of  the  same  Sun, 
formed  the  happy  prelude.  Spiritual  life  suc- 
ceeded spiritual  light.  To  object  to  the  genuine- 
ness o(  the  work,  because  of  its  suddenness,  would 
be  to  plead  a  "  7iccds  be"  for  our  continuance  in 
a  state  of  comparative  darkness,  danger,  misery, 
and  death,  in  opposition,  to  the  end  proposed  by 
the  scheme  of  human  redemption  through  Jesus 
Christ,  which  was  to  complete  our  deliverance 
from  such  a  state — would  be  to  prescribe  limits 
to  the  power,  goodness,  and  purity  of  "  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel,"  as  though  he  were  unable 
to  effect  such  a  change  but  by  degrees,  unwill- 
ing at  once  to  soothe  our  sorrows,  and  approv- 
ing of  our  continuance  in  a  state  of  moral  defile- 
ment— would  be  to  doubt  the  veracity  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  in  his  statements  of  the  sudden 
illumination  of  Saul,  the  sudden  conviction  of 
the  multitude  under  the  preaching  of  Peter,  and 
the  instantaneous  pardon  of  the  penitent  thief — 
and  would,  finally,  be  to  obstruct  the  course  of 
our  obedience,  in  compliance  with  all  the  ex- 
hortations which  urge  us,  and  all  the  injunctions 
which  bind  us  to  an  immediate  preparation  for 
another  state  of  being,  as  well  as  needlessly 
expose  us,  through  sudden  death,  to  the  "  bitter 
pains"  of  death  eternal. 

Hut  the  doctrine  of  sudden  conversion  is  be- 
coming every  day  less  objectionable  ;  and  the 
"  holy  ground"  on  which  that  conversion  takes 
place,  is  not  barely  visited  by  the  hymning 
seraphs  of  the  Christian  Church,  who  chant  their 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  43 

songs  within  the  sacred  enclosure,  but  is  in- 
spected and  honoured  by  some  of  our  first  epic 
poets  from  without,  through  whose  pen  the 
ground  has  at  length  become  poetically  classic- 
al.* Thus,  in  "  The  Poet's  Pilgrimage  to 
Waterloo,"  the  author,  in  his  moments  of 
vision,    after   tasting   the    tree    of   knowledge, 


"  In  awe  I  heard,  and  trembled,  and  obey'd ; 

The  bitterness  was  even  as  of  death  ; 
I  felt  a  cold  and  piercing  thrill  pervade 

My  loosen'd  limbs,  and  losing  sight  and  breath, 
To  earth  I  should  have  fallen  in  despair, 
Had  I  not  clasp'd  the  cross,  and  been  supported  there. 

'  My  heart,  I  thought,  was  bursting  with  the  force 
Of  that  most  fatal  fruit ;  soul-sick  I  felt, 
And  tears  ran  down  in  such  continuous  course 
As  if  the  very  eyes  themselves  should  melt  • 
But  then  I  heard  my  heavenly  Teacher  say, 
'  Drink,  and  this  mortal  stound  shall  pass  away.' 

•  I  stoop'd  and  drank  of  that  divinest  well, 
Fresh  from  the  Rock  of  ages  where  it  ran. 
It  had  a  heavenly  quality  to  quell 

My  pain  : — 1  rose  a  renovated  man, 
And  would  not  now,  when  that  relief  was  known, 
For  worlds  the  needful  suffering  have  foregone." 

These  sentiments,  though  highly  poetical,  take 
their  root  in  fact,  and  owe  their  beauty  and 
their  excellence  to  truth,  of  which  they  are  the 
fictitious  representatives.  The  deep  distress, 
the  heart-sickness  referred  to,  would,  by  a  sim- 
ple-hearted Christian,  be  styled  deep  conviction 
for  sin,  or  the  pains  of  repentance  antecedent  to 

*  See  the  writer's  Letter  to  Dr.  Southey,  Poet  Laureate 
on  the  Life  of  Mr.  Wesley 


44  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

pardon  ;  by  a  philosopher,  a  species  of  religious 
madness.  The  passing  away  of  the  •'  mortal 
stound"  would  be  contemplated  under  the  notion 
of  peace  of  mind,  after  the  penitent  had  by  faith 
"  clasped  the  cross,"  or  rather  the  Crucified.  The 
brief  space  of  time  allotted  for  the  whole  would 
at  once  entitle  the  work  to  the  general  appella- 
tion of  sudden  conversion  :  for  the  poet  had  only 
to  stoop — to  drink — to  rise,  and  to  rise  too  a 
renovated  man.  This  bears  such  a  striking 
analogy  to  the  case  of  the  sin-sick  village 
blacksmith,  whose  personal  history  is  passing 
in  review — who  knelt  in  distress  before  his 
God — implored  mercy — and  rose  renewed  and 
happy — that  the  poet,  had  he  known  the  fact, 
could  scarcely  have  been  more  felicitous  in  its 
illustration. 

So  fully  satisfied  was  Samuel  himself  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  work,  that  he  frequently,  in 
after  life,  when  dwelling  upon  his  religious 
views  and  feelings,  recurred  to  the  very  "  flag" 
on  which  he  knelt,  and  where  he  remained  as 
he  had  risen  from  his  couch,  unannoyed  by  the 
cold,  till  he  experienced  peace  with  God.  No 
sooner  was  he  put  in  possession  of  the  "  pearl 
of  great  price,"  than  he  waited  with  the  anxiety 
of  the  watchman  for  the  morning,  to  be  delivered 
from  a  situation  which  had  become  burdensome 
through  overwrought  joy, — a  joy  which  could 
only  find  relief  in  the  hearts  of  others — hearts 
ready,  as  the  recipients  of  its  overflowings,  to 
share  in  its  fulness.  But  where  were  hearts  to 
be  found  to  become  the  receptacles  of  such  joy? 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  45 

It  was  not  for  him  to  say,  with  the  psalmist, 
"  Come  and  hear,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and  I 
will  declare  what  he  hath  done  for  my  sonl ;" 
or,  "  I  will  declare  thy  name  unto  my  brethren : 
in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  I  will  praise 
thee."  Though  congregations  were  not  remote, 
yet  there  were  no  brethren  with  whom  he  could 
claim  religious  affinity,  none  that  feared  God, 
with  whom  he  was  acquainted.  He  resolved, 
therefore,  to  proclaim  the  goodness  of  God  to 
his  "  neighbours ;"  and  like  Melancthon,  to 
whom  truth  appeared  at  first  so  simple,  and  yet 
so  forcible,  that  he  instantly  calculated  on  the 
conquest  of  others,  but  had  soon  to  complain 
that  old  Adam  was  too  strong  for  young  Me- 
lancthon, Samuel — and  the  thought  has  haunted 
many  beside  these,  both  learned  and  illiterate — 
contemplated  nothing  short  of  the  sudden  con- 
version of  every  person  in  the  neighbourhood. 
"  I  thought,"  he  remarked,  "  I  could  make  all 
the  world  believe,  when  day-light  appeared.  I 
went  to  my  neighbours,  for  I  loved  my  neigh- 
bour as  myself.  I  wished  them  all  to  experi- 
ence what  I  felt.  The  first  that  I  went  to  was 
a  landlady.  I  told  her  what  the  Lord  had  done 
for  me ;  and  that  what  he  had  done  for  me  he 
could  do  for  her,  exhorting  her  to  pray  and  be- 
lieve." This  was  no  new  language  to  the  ear 
into  which  it  was  poured,  for  the  woman  seemed 
to  know  to  what  source  it  was  traceable. 
"  What,"  she  retorted,  "  have  you  become  a 
Methodist?  You  were  a  good  neighbour,  and 
a  good  man  before  ;  and  why  change  ?     The 


46  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

Methodists  arc  a  set  of  rogues,  and   you  Will 
soon  be  like  them."     Samuel,  who  was  at  least 
guiltless  of  Methodism,  hail  too  important  a  sub- 
ject in  hand  to  spend  his  time  in  disclaiming 
his  brotherhood,  and  therefore  continued  to  press 
upon  her  attention  the  necessity  of  personal  re- 
ligion, telling  her,  if  her  "  sins"  were  "not  par- 
doned," it  would  be  impossible  for  her  to  go  "  to 
heaven."     Unprepared  for  such  service,  partly 
from  the  early  hour,  partly  from  the  personal 
nature   of   the    discourse,   but   more   especially 
from  the  character  of  the  preacher,  who,  only 
the  day  before,  had  given  so  little  promise  of 
any  thing  of  (lie  kind,  she  became  indignant, 
and  in  her  ire  turned  him  out  of  the  house,  in 
which  he  might  have  remained  till  evening,  re- 
ducing himself,  by  intoxication,  beneath  a  level 
with  the  brute  creation.     Fiery  as  was  his  zeal 
for  her  salvation,  he  received  the  requital  of  his 
good  intentions  with  meekness  ;  and  instead  of 
repining  at  the   rebuff,  retired   to  a  field,   and 
poured  out  his  soul  in  prayer  to  God  on  her  be- 
half.    He  had  just  been  favoured  with  a  proof 
of  the  efficacy  of  prayer  in  his  own  case  ;  and 
the  simple  thought   that  "  what  God  had  done 
for  himself  he  coidd  do  for  others,"  so  fully  oc- 
cupied his  mind,  that,  in  its  strength  and  simpli- 
city,  he  was   led  on  from  one  part  of  prayer 
to  another — from   confession,  supplication,   and 
thanksgiving,  in  reference  to  himself,  to  that  of 
intercession  for  those  around.     The  fire  of  di- 
vine love  burned  upon  the  altar  of  his  heart,  faith 
was  in  exercise,  hope  was  on  the  wing,  every 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  47 

feeling,  though  infantile,  was  strong — he  again 
returned  to  the  contest,  but  what  a  change ! 
"  To  my  surprise,"  he  observed,  "  when  I  went 
back  she  was  crying  in  the  doorstead.  She 
asked  me  to  forgive  her.  '  O  yes,  that  I  will,'  I 
said  ;  and  if  you  will  let  me  go  in,  and  pray 
with  you,  the  Lord  will  forgive  you  too."  His 
words  and  his  manner,  when  the  woman  was 
left  to  herself,  had  been  the  subject  of  reflec- 
tion ;  and,  from  the  impression  made,  she  rea- 
dily acceded  to  the  proposal.  "  She  took  me," 
continued  he,  "  into  a  room  ;  and  there  I  prayed 
for  her.  It  was  not  long  before  the  Lord  blessed 
her ;  and  he  thus  gave  me  the  first  soul  I  asked 
for.  He  can  do  a  great  work  in  a  little  time. 
She  lived  and  died  happy.  This  encouraged 
me  to  go  on  in  the  duty  of  prayer." 

If  an  inward  renewal  is  known  by  its  effects, 
the  tree  by  its  fruit,  the  evidence  of  Samuel 
Hick's  conversion  to  God  is  not  less  certain 
than  if  it  had  been  less  sudden.  He  had  em- 
ployed the  means,  prayer  and  faith,  instituted 
by  God  himself  for  the  attainment  of  his  fa- 
vour— he  experienced  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost 
through  believing,  having  been  made  a  partaker 
of  "  salvation  ;"  and  being  "  upheld  with"  God's 
"  free  Spirit,"  he  immediately  began,  in  primi- 
tive style,  to  "  teach  transgressors"  the  "  ways" 
of  righteousness,  and  a  "  sinner"  was  "  con- 
verted" to  the  truth.  The  temper  of  mind  which 
he  manifested  under  opposition,  his  readiness 
to  forgive,  the  constraining  influence  of  the  love 
which  he   felt,  the  persevering  quality  of  the 


48  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

principle  by  which  he  was  actuated,  his  joy 
over  a  sinner  repenting,  only  to  be  compared 
with  that  possessed  by  angelic  beings,  all,  all 
are  indications  of  one  of  whom  it  might  be  said, 
"  Old  things  are  passed  away  :  behold  all  things 
are  become  new."  Add  to  this,  every  pari  of 
his  personal  history,  from  this  time  to  the  hour 
of  his  death,  is  confirmatory  of  Christian  cha- 
racter. While  a  career  of  between  forty  and 
fifty  years  of  Christian  usefulness,  connected 
with  a  strictly  moral  conduct,  renders  it  impro- 
bable that  he  should,  for  such  a  length  of  time, 
impose  upon  others  ;  his  views  of  his  state  and 
of  his  services,  and  his  abhorrence  of  sin, 
authorize  the  belief  that  there  was  no  deception 
practised  upon  himself.  It  was  not  a  state  of 
mere  improved  feeling,  not  tin  whitewash  of 
pharisaism  ;  the  change  entered  the  grain  of 
the  man,  turning  him  inside  out  to  others,  to 
whom  any  thing  in  the  shape  of  guile  was  invi- 
sible, and  outside  in  upon  himself,  while  he  de- 
clared, from  the  internal  and  external  evidence 
which  a  depraved  nature  and  a  previously  sin- 
ful life  had  furnished,  that  he  had  been  "  as  big 
a  heathen  as  any  of  the  natives  of  Ceylon," 
having  "  had  gods  many,  and  lords  many  ;"  but 
that  "the  Lord,  when  he  awakened"  his  "soul, 
enabled"  him  "  to  cut  them  off  at  a  stroke." 
He  reasoned  not  with  flesh  and  blood ;  he  spared 
no  Agag,  he  reserved  no  sin. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  49 


CHAPTER   III. 

He  seeks  church  fellowship— Advises  with  a  pious  clergy 
man,  with  whom  he  meets  in  hand — Unites  himself,  on  the 
clergyman's  leaving  the  neighbourhood,  to  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists — The  kind  of  preaching  under  which  he  profited 
— Society  at  Sturton  Grange — A  revival  of  religion — Two 
colliers  rendered  extensively  useful — A  solitary  barn  the  re- 
sort of  the  devout — Samuel's  distress  on  account  of  indwell- 
ing sin,  and  his  deliverance  from  it — Singular  occurrence — 
Deep  distress  compatible  with  a  state  oi  justification. 

Max,  who  was  originally  formed  for  society, 
and  furnished  with  its  felicities  in  paradise, 
carries  with  him  into  every  climate,  and  into 
all  circumstances,  those  elements  which,  when 
properly  improved  and  directed,  not  only  fit  him 
for  social  life,  but  render  him  restless  without 
it,  as  well  as  inspire  him  with  a  solicitude  for 
its  blessings.  A  few  solitary  hermitical  and 
misanthropic  exceptions,  or  an  occasional  wish 
for  "  wings  like  a  dove,"  to  "  fly  away"  from 
its  bustle,  in  order  to  "  be  at  rest,"  are  not  to  be 
adduced  as  arguments  against  the  general  prin- 
ciple ;  for  even  among  those  who  are  most  par- 
tial to  retirement,  who  are  least  in  love  with  the 
world  of  beings  around  them,  and  who,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  designs  of  God  in  helping  man  by 
man,  convert  themselves  into  misers'  treasure,  a 
kind  of  moral  and  intellectual  cash,  hoarded  up 
in  the  safe  of  a  monastery  or  a  nunnery,  useless 
to  such  as  are  most  in  need  of  their  aid,  and 
whose  wants  might  be  essentially  relieved  by 
an  expenditure  of  their  time  and  of  their  talents ; 
even  among  these  the  love  of  society  is  inhe- 
4 


50  THi:     VILLAGE     BLACKSMITH. 

rent,  and  is  manifested  by  their  institutions 
where  groups  are  permitted  to  dwell  and  mingle 
with  each  other,  if  not  as  the  coin  itself,  as  the 
misers  of  Christianity.  This  love  of  society  is 
not  destroyed,  but  regulated  and  strengthened 
by  religion  ;  and  by  no  one  is  it  more  needed, 
or  more  ardently  desired,  than  by  a  person 
newly  "  found  in"  Christ.  The  notion  of 
"  going  to  heaven  alone,"  of  preserving  our 
religion  a  "  secret" — which,  by  the  way,  be- 
longs only  to  those  who  have  no  religion  to  ex- 
hibit— is  instantly  annihilated  on  the  reception 
of  pardon.  The  charm  of  secrecy  is  broken, 
and  why  ?  There  is  now  "  something  to  saif 
— subject  matter  for  conversation.  "A  new 
song"  is  put  into  the  "  mouth,"  and  it  must  be 
sung ;  a  "  morsel"  has  been  received,  and  it 
cannot  be  eaten  "  alone."  Nor  is  the  wish  to 
communicate  confined  barely  to  a  person's  en- 
trance on  the  divine  life  ;  "  it  grows  with  his 
growth."  "  They  that  feared  the  Lord  spake 
often  one  to  another." 

Samuel,  who  was  in  danger  of  casting  his 
" pearls  before  swine,''  and  who  had  confounded 
attempts  at  usefulness  with  "  the  communion  of 
saints,"  was  instinctively  led  to  seek  the  latter 
from  the  nature  of  his  own  wants.  "  I  was  at 
a  sad  loss,"  says  he,  "for  church  fellowship, 
there  being  no  society  near."  This  "  loss" 
could  not  allude  to  any  privation  of  privilege, 
with  the  enjoyment  of  which  he  had  been  pre- 
viously favoured  ;  for  no  such  enjoyment  had 
been  known.     The  want  was  created  with  the 


THE    VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH.  51 

character  which  he  now  sustained.  It  was  the 
want  of  a  child — himself  being  only  a  babe  in 
Christ — looking  for  some  one  to  guide  and  sup- 
port his  steps  ;  the  want  of  another  regimen 
than  that  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed — 
of  other  food  for  the  support  of  a  new  life.  His 
connection  with  the  Methodists,  as  a  hearer, 
whether  occasional  or  constant,  seems  to  have 
broken  off  with  his  servitude  at  Healaugh  ;  and 
no  persons  of  that  persuasion  being  near,  a 
closer  connection  could  not  be  immediately  and 
conveniently  renewed.  Having  been  accus- 
tomed to  attend  the  service  of  the  Established 
Church,  after  his  residence  at  Micklefield,  he 
naturally  looked  to  its  members  for  communion. 
The  light,  however,  which  he  had  received, 
was  sufficiently  discriminative  in  its  character 
to  guide  him  to  the  right  spot.  Instead  of 
"  wending  his  way"  to  Aberford,  where  he  had 
distinguished  himself  as  a  chorister,  he  pro- 
ceeded with  the  infallibility  of  instinct  to  Led- 
sham,  and  with  great  simplicity  solicited  an  in- 
terview with  the  resident  clergyman.  "  I  asked 
him,"  he  remarks,  "  what  I  should  do ;  and  he 
told  me  to  call  on  him  the  next  Lord's  day 
morning,  when  he  would  advise  with  me."  He 
accordingly  repaired  to  the  house  at  the  time 
appointed,  and  was  cordially  received,  as  well 
as  religiously  instructed.  Samuel's  testimony 
of  him — because  the  testimony  of  experience — is 
of  more  value,  in  an  evangelical  point  of  view, 
than  the  highest  panegyric  from  the  pen  of  a 
'itcrary  nominal  professor  of  Christianity.     It 


52  THE    VILLAGE    RI.ACKSMITH. 

is  the  lisping  of  childhood,  as  yet  unaccustomed 
to  artifice.  "  He  was  a  very  good  man,  and 
preached  the  gospel.  I  went  to  Ledsham 
some  time  ;  but  he  was  at  length  obliged  to 
leave,  for  his  salary  would  not  keep  him. 
Then  I  was  at  a  loss  for  my  band-mate."  The 
last  expression,  the  full  import  of  which  can 
only  be  known  and  felt  by  persons  enjoying  the 
sweets  of  Christian  fellowship,  shows  the  ten- 
derness, the  condescension,  the  solicitude,  the 
sympathies  of  this  ecclesiastic — the  Village 
Patriarch  stooping  from  his  dignity,  and  tak- 
ing, as  a  band-mate,  "  sweet  counsel  with  the 
Village  Blacksmith!* 

*  Ledsham  is  the  village,  [in  which  stands  the  church]  in 
which  the  late  Rev.  Walter  Sellon,  "ho  was  vicar  of  the 
parish,  lived  and  died;  and  Ledstone  Hall,  at  no  groat  dis- 
tance  from  it,  is  the  place  where  the  renowned  Lady  Belly 
Hastings  also  resided,  and  finally  rcsiencd  her  soul  into  the 
hands  of  tier  <  fbd.  The  clergyman,  ol  whom  Samuel  speaks, 
is  supposed  to  have  been  Mr.  Wightman,  who  was  curate  to 
Mr.  Sellon  ;  the  former  a  Calvinist,  and  I  he  latter  an  Ainiiii- 
iail  in  creed  ;  and  though  salary  might  have  its  share  o(  influ- 
ence in  the  question  of  removal,  it  is  strongly  suspected  that 
doctrinal  sentiments  aided  in  turning  the  scale.  Mr.  Sellon 
was  a  sturdy  supporter  of  the  doctrine  of  general  ledcmp- 
tion,  and  fought  some  hard  battles  in  early  life  against  the 
Catvinistic  view  of  the  subject,  under  the  auspices  of  Mr. 
W*(  slcy  ;  but  toward  the  close  of  Mr.  Wesley's  pilgrimage, 
Mr.  Sellon  manifested  a  degree  of  coldness  toward  his  old 
friend.  In  a  manuscript  correspondence  of  Mr.  Wesley  with 
Mr.  Sellon,  in  the  possession  of  the  writer,  it  appears  that 
the  warmth  of  friendship  began  to  subside  when  Mr.  Sellon 
resided  at  Aahby-de-la-Zoucn.  From  1772  to  1784,  there  is 
a  chasm  in  the  correspondence.  Up  to  the  former  period, 
Mr.  Wesley's  address  was,  "  Dear  Walter,"  with  all  the  fa- 
miliarity ot  close  friendship:  hut  on  Mr.  Sellon's  residence 
at  Ledsham,  ul  w  hirh  place  he  lived  during  the  hitter  period, 
the  address  was  altered  to  "  Dear  Sir,"  one  of  the  letters 
concluding  with,  "  You  used  to  meet  me  when  1  came  near 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  53 

This  was  a  gracious  providence  to  Samuel, 
through  which  he  was  enabled,  in  the  child- 
hood of  his  Christianity,  to  acquire  strength  ; 
and  but  for  which  he  might  have  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  walk  alone.  lie  had  not  long,  however, 
to  bemoan  his  bereavement.  The  Lord,  on  re- 
moving one  stay,  speedily  supplied  its  place 
with  another.  It  was  with  Samuel,  therefore, 
as  with  the  child,  a  change  of  nurses,  rather 
than  a  privation,  or  even  a  serious  suspension 
of  the  kindly  offices  requisite  for  the  support 
and  guidance  of  his  weakness  and  inexperience. 
"  The  Lord,"  he  observed,  "  sent  Mr.  Wade  to 
Sturton  Grange,  where  they  took  in  the  preach- 
ers, and  had  a  society.  As  I  felt  my  want  of 
chinch  fellowship,  I  went  to  ask  them  to  take 
me  into  society.  They  offered  to  take  me  on 
trial ;  and  I  continued  a  member  till  we  got  a 
society  in  our  own  place,  which  was  not  long, 
for  I  never  let  them  alone."  He  had  an  ardent 
desire  for  the  salvation  of  sinners  ;  and  his  not 
letting  them  alone  refers  as  much  to  his  conver- 

you  ;  hut  you  seem  of  late  years  to  have  forgotten  yonr  old 
friend  and  brother,  John  Wesley."  Among  the  manuscript 
letters  referred  to,  are  some  curious  epistolary  specimens 
written  by  Mr.  Charles  Wesley  to  Mr.  Sellon  ;  also  some 
rare  ones,  addressed  to  the  same  person,  from  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  .1.  Fletcher,  Via  Perronet,  E.  Perronet,  Sir  Richard 
Hill,  and  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon — all  tending  to  throw 
lLdit  on  the  controversies  and  passing  events  of  the  times — 
which  another  occasion  may  render  it  proper  to  present  to 
the  public.  How  long  Mr.  Sellon  remained  at  Ledsham, the 
writer  is  unable  at  present  to  ascertain  :  but  it  is  probable, 
from  the  Vveslej  an  Meth.  Mag.  for  1818,  p.  53,  that  he  was 
either  in  the  village  or  its  immediate  vicinity,  in  a  state  of 
great  affliction,  in  1790  and  1791. 


54  THE   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

salional  efforts  to  reclaim  his  neighbours,  as  to 
any  request  that  a  portion  of  the  privileges  of 
the  society  to  which  he  had  united  himself, 
which  was  little  more  than  a  mile  distant, 
should  be  transferred  to  Micklefield.  Thus, 
adverting  to  his  situation  to  promote  the  reli- 
gious welfare  of  others,  he  remarks,  "  I  had  a 
good  opportunity,  as  nearly  the  whole  town 
came  to  my  shop  ;  and  I  was  always  at  them. 
I  found  my  share  of  persecution  ;  but  this  did 
not  daunt  me,  nor  prevent  me  from  calling  on 
sinners  to  repent,  believe,  and  be  converted." 

It  was  not  barely  by  reproof  and  exhortation 
that  he  sought  to  multiply  the  number  of  travel- 
lers to  Zion,  but  also  by  earnest  and  affection- 
ate invitation.  The  first  fruit  of  this  description 
of  labour — labour  which  has  been  extremely 
productive  in  a  variety  of  instances — was  a 
wealthy  agriculturist.  "  Mr.  Thomas  Taylor," 
said  he,  "  came  to  preach  at  Sturton  Grange,  and 
I  invited  all  I  could  to  go  and  hear  him.  One 
of  these  was  Mr.  Rhodes,*  a  large  farmer,  who 
lived  in  the  parish  ;  and  who  said  if  I  would 
call  upon  him  he  would  go  with  me.  Blessed 
be  the  Lord !  on  the  same  night  the  gospel 
proved  the  power  of  God  to  his  salvation.  I 
remember  the  text ;  it  referred  to  the  tares  and 
the  wheat.     The  tares  were  gathered  and  lied 

*  In  a  letter  from  Mr.  Dawson,  dated  April  3d,  1830,  re- 
ferring  to  Mr.  Rhodi  -,  he  observes,  "lie  is  still  living  at 
Micklefield.  1  saw  Kim  yesterday.  lie  is  nearly  blind,  and 
his  constitution  is  fnsl  breaking  up.  He  will  nol  survive 
Samuel  long,  Tin'  Methodists  always  preached,  and  still 
preach  at  his  house." 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  55 

into  bundles.  There  was  a  bundle  of  sabbath- 
breakers,  a  bundle  of  swearers,  &c.  Theso 
bundles  were  to  be  burned  ;  and  before  the  ser- 
mon was  finished,  the  preacher  got  Mr.  Rhodes 
bound  up  in  one  of  them.  From  that  time  the 
Lord  added  to  our  number ;  we  got  preaching 
to  our  place,  and  soon  had  a  class-meeting." 
This,  it  should  seem,  from  a  reference  to  the 
Minutes  of  Conference,  was  either  in  the  year 
1785,  or  1786,  when  Mr.  Taylor  was  stationed 
in  the  Leeds  circuit.  Such  preaching  was  as 
much  calculated  to  instruct  the  uneducated 
mind  of  .Samuel,  as  it  was  to  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  the  farmer.  Keach  would  have  been  a 
superior  preacher  in  his  estimation  to  Saurin, 
and  he  would  have  profited  more  by  the  meta- 
phors of  the  one,  than  by  the  sermons  of  the  other. 
He  could  fasten  upon  some  of  the  more  promi- 
nent parts  of  a  highly  figurative  discourse,  and 
turn  them  to  good  personal  and  practical  ac- 
count ;  but  would  have  been  in  danger  of  run- 
ning wild  with  the  remainder.  He  knew  much 
better  when  to  commence,  than  how  to  proceed, 
or  where  to  close. 

But  it  was  not  in  criticism  that  he  was 
skilled  ;  nor  was  it  into  the  niceties  of  Christian 
doctrine  that  he  could  enter.  He  knew  the 
truth  much  better  in  its  operation  on  the  heart, 
than  in  its  shinings  on  the  understanding  ;  and 
could  tell  much  better  how  it  felt,  than  in  what 
position  and  connection  it  stood.  He  seemed 
to  possess  the  faculty  in  religion,  which  some 
blind  people  are  said  to  possess,  in  a  rare  de- 


56  THE    VII. LACK   BLACKSMITH. 

gree,  in  reference  to  colours ;  a  faculty  of  de- 
scribing it  by  the  touch  ;  for  scarcely  any  thing 
advanced  amounted  with  him  to  truth,  unless  it 
fell  with  power  upon  his  heart,  lie  had  re- 
ceived the  doctrine  of  justification  as  an  expert" 
mcntal  truth,  though  utterly  unable,  in  puritanic 
style,  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  its  moving,  meri- 
torious, re/note,  immediate,  and  instrumental 
causes ;  and  this  led  to  another  doctrine  equally 
momentous  ;  a  doctrine  of  experience,  no  less 
than  of  theory  ;  the  sanctijication  of  the  heart  to 
God.  "  After  he  had  enjoyed  the  blessing  of 
conscious  pardon,"  says  Air.  Dawson,  "  he  dis- 
covered that  there  was  a  higher  state  of  grace 
to  be  attained  ;  that  such  state  was  purchased 
for  him  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  was 
to  be  applied  to  his  soul  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
through  faith.  This  he  sought  in  the  way 
which  God  appointed,  and  found  the  promise 
realized.  'Every  one  that  asketh  receiveth ; 
and  he  that  seeketh  findeth ;  and  to  him  that 
knocketh  it  shall  be  opened.'  He  was  enabled 
to  believe  for  a  higher  enjoyment  of  divine  love, 
and  from  the  hour  he  believed,  obtained  a  richer 
measure  of  it,  through  which  he  was  empow- 
ered to  '  rejoice  evermore  ;  pray  without  ceas- 
ing ;  in  every  thing  give  thanks.' " 

This  farther  change  was  wrought  in  his  soul 
in  the  year  1791,  and  the  following  are  some 
of  the  circumstances  connected  with  its  attain- 
ment. "  About  this  time,  (1794.)"  he  observes, 
"  there  was  a  great  revival  of  the  work  of  God 
at  Sturton  Grange,  near  Mickli  field.   The  meet- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  57 

ings  were  held  in  Rig  Lair*  Some  hundreds 
of  souls  were  converted  to  God,  and  many  were 
sanctified.  I  was  one  of  the  happy  number, 
not  only  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  Christian 
holiness,  but  who,  blessed  be  the  Lord !  proved 
for  myself,  that  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth 
from  sin."  Mr.  Dawson,  in  adverting  to  this 
extraordinary  work  of  God,  in  connection  with 
Samuel's  progress  in  religion,  states  that  "  there 
was  an  extraordinary  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
upon  nearly  the  whole  of  Yorkshire,  and  that  it 
was  most  remarkably  felt  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Micklerield.  At  a  solitary  barn,"  continues 
he,  "  which  stands  on  a  farm  belonging  to  Mr. 
Wade,  at  Sturton,  near  the  Roman  road  leading 
from  Castleford  to  Aberford,  a  prayer  meeting 
was  held  every  Sunday  morning  and  Monday 
evening.  These  meetings  were  especially 
owned  of  God.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  filled 
the  place,  and  the  power  of  God  was  present  to 
wound  and  to  heal,  to  kill  and  to  make  alive. 
Two  colliers, t  men  who  gave  themselves  to 
prayer,  were  very  successful  instruments  in  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  in  the  conversion  of  scores, 
if  not  hundreds  of  persons,  in  the  course  of  the 
summer.  Our  late  brother  Hick  took  his  full 
share  in  the  work,  and  experienced  a  full  share 

*  Lair — a  BARN,  in  the  west  of  Yorkshire. 

t  One  of  these  men  was  supported  by  the  bouniy  of  the  late 
Mr.  Broadhurat,  of  S  win  ton,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enabling 
him  to  devote  his  time  to  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  &c.,  and 
died  lately  at  Manchester,  where  he  had  resided  several 
years.  His  brother  William,  tiie  other  person  alluded  to, 
married  a  person  belonging  to  Pollington,  a  village  about 
three   miles  from    Snaith,  Yorkshire,  where  he  continued 


58  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

of  the  glory.  Sabbath  after  sabbath  the  barn 
was  filled  with  people  ;  the  cries  of  penitence 
were  heard  in  different  places,  and  were  fre- 
quently succeeded  by  songs  of  praise.  The 
colliers  were  invited  to  the  neighbouring  vil- 
lages, whither  friend  Hick  accompanied  them 
in  their  work  of  faith  and  labour  of  love.  Often 
has  he  been  heard  to  relate  the  conquests  of 
redeeming  love,  as  witnessed  in  these  journeys, 
from  which  he  frequently  returned  home  re- 
joicing— rejoicing  more  than  earthly  conquerors 
when  they  find  great  spoil." 

Under  the  general  influence  referred  to, 
Samuel  was  led,  as  stated  above,  to  seek  a  far- 
ther work  of  grace.  At  the  midnight  hour  he 
retired  to  this  "  barn"  whose  solitude  was  deep- 
ened by  the  season,  for  private  devotion.  He 
bowed  the  knee  in  one  of  its  unfrequented  nooks  ; 
but  before  he  had  proceeded  to  offer  a  petition 
to  God  whom  alone  he  supposed  to  be  present, 
he  heard  the  voice  of  prayer  in  an  opposite 
corner.  He  paused  ;  he  listened  ;  the  shadows 
of  night  had  fallen  too  thickly  around  to  permit 
him  to  see  any  one.  Unexpected  as  it  was,  it 
was  the  voice  of  melody  to  his  ear :  still  he  lis- 
tened, and  at  length  he  recognised  the  voice  of 
Praying  George,  one  of  the  colliers,  who  was 

us.  ful  as  an  exhorter  and  class-leader  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time— ended  his  days  in  peace,  about  five  years 
and  left  a  widow  and  two  or  three  children.  The)' 
received  the  appellation  of  the  "Praying  Collars"  The 
one  who  resided  in  Manchester,  and  who  w;is  personally 
known  to  the  writer,  was  generally  designated  by  the  title 
of  "  Praying  George."  Their  prober  name — the  one  by 
which  they  were  least  known — was  Mostly. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  59 

wrestling,  like  Jacob,  repeating  again  and  again, 
u  Lord,  wash  my  heart ;  Lord,  wash  my  heart ;" 
adding  emphasis  to  each  repjtition — elevating 
his  voice  as  he  rose  in  fervour — but  as  little 
suspecting  that  he  was  heard  by  a  fellow  crea- 
ture, as  Samuel  did  that  he  should  find  any 
one  in  the  place  at  such  an  hour.  He  soon 
gave  the  response  to  George's  prayer,  who,  in 
his  turn,  was  surprised  to  find  that  Samuel  had 
stolen  into  the  place  for  the  same  purpose. 
They  mingled  their  petitions  and  spirits  to- 
gether, and  increased  each  other's  ardour.  "  I 
thought,"  said  Samuel,  "  if  the  Lord  could 
wash  George's  heart,  he  could  also  wash  mine ; 
and  I  was  fully  convinced  that  if  George's 
heart  wanted  washing,  mine  required  it  much 
more  ;  for  I  considered  him  far  before  me  in 
divine  grace."  He  proceeded  from  the  very 
first  on  the  principle,  that  "  God  is  no  respecter 
of  persons"  and  that,  from  the  immutability  of 
Ins  nature,  the  same  power  and  goodness  exer- 
cised in  one  case  could,  and  really  would,  be  exer- 
cised in  another,  where  a  compliance  with  the 
means  proposed  to  attain  the  end  was  observed. 
He  experienced  much  of  the  presence  of 
God  in  prayer,  but  no  satisfactory  evidence  of 
the  blessing  which  he  sought.  Having  in  all 
probability  remained  in  the  same  position  for  a 
i!i<\it  length  of  time,  and  having  been  earnest 
in  his  pleadings,  he  was  so  affected  and  en- 
feebled when  he  rose,  that  he  was  unable  to 
stand  erect,  and  was  obliged,  as  he  expressed 
himself,  to  "  walk  home  almost  double."     On 


60  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH; 

passing  along  one  of  the  fields,  he  heard  a  sud- 
den and  "  mighty  rush*'  over  his  head,  as  he 
termed  it,  the  sound  of  which  he  compared  to  a 
lar^e  covey  of  "  pigeons,"  sweeping  the  air 
with  their  wings.  Being  partially  bent  toward 
the  ground,  and  the  morning  light  not  having 
dawned  upon  the  earth,  he  was  unable  to  per 
ceive  any  thing,  had  any  appearance  been  vi- 
sible. He  started — but  all  was  gone  in  an 
instant.  Having  just  come  from  the  spot  where 
he  had  been  holding  converse  with  God,  and 
linked  as  he  was  in  spirit  to  the  invisible  world, 
it  was  natural  for  him — whatever  becomes  of 
either  the  rationality  or  the  Christianity  of  the 
act — to  direct  his  thoughts  thither ;  and  the 
sound  had  but  just  passed,  when  it  occurred  to 
him,  "  This  is  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the 
air."  On  reaching  home,  he  named  the  cir- 
cumstance to  his  wife,  who  was  still  more 
struck  with  it,  when,  on  having  occasion  to  go 
into  the  fields  some  hours  afterward  to  milk  the 
cows,  she  heard  the  same  noise  as  described 
by  Samuel,  but  saw  nothing  from  whence  it 
could  proceed.* 

Instead  of  retiring  to  rest,  he  spent  the  whole 
of  the  morning  in  private  prayer  :   and  such  was 

*  Though  no  anxiety  is  felt  hy  the  writer  for  his  credit  s 
an  author,  in  giving  publicity  to  this  circumstance ;  and 
though  he  has  no  particular  wish  to  give  a  supernatural  cha- 
racter  to  it,  he  would,  nevertheless,  lend  an  attentive  ear  to 
the  solution  of  a  few  difficulties  with  which  the  subject  is 

involved.  The  sound  was  heard  by  lira  persona  at  ilistiurt 
■periods  ;  no  appmranc  was  visible  in  either  case  ;  the  sound 
was  like  that  of  birds  upon  the  wing  :  —  the  Iwitr  was  unseason- 
able,  in  the  first  instance,  for  any  birds  to  be  abroad,  except 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  61 

his  distress — being,  as  he  forcibly  expressed 
himself,  "  under  deep  conviction  for  holiness," 
— that  he  could  "  neither  eat,  sleep,  nor  work." 
He  continues,  "  I  went  mourning  and  pleading 
the  whole  of  that  day  and  of  that  night,  but 
could  find  no  rest  to  my  soul.  The  next  morn- 
ing, about  eight  o'clock,  I  knelt  me  down  upon 
the  same  flag  on  which  God  had  pardoned  my 
sins  :  and  while  I  was  pleading  his  promises, 
faith  sprung  up  in  my  heart ;  I  found  that  the 
blood  of  Christ  did  indeed  cleanse  me  from  all 
sin.  I  immediately  leaped  up  from  my  knees. 
I  seemed  to  have  gotten  both  a  new  body  and  a 
new  soul.  The  former  appeared  like  cork 
wood,  it  was  so  light.  I  was  clear  in  my  sanc- 
tification.  It  was  received  by  faith  in  Christ. 
All  was  joy,  peace,  and  love.  My  soul  was 
constantly  mounting  in  a  chariot  of  fire  ;  the 
world  and  the  devil  were  under  my  feet." 

The  martyrdom  of  spirit  which  Samuel  expe- 
rienced on  the  death  of  the  depravity  of  his  na- 
ture, can  only  be  understood  by  those  who  have 
suffered  on  the  same  rack  ;  and  there  are  not  a 
few  who  have  suffered  more  because  of  indwell- 
ing sin,  than  under  conviction  of  its  enormity 
and  punishment,  as  was  evidently  the  case  with 

the  owl ; — in  the  second  instance  the  night-bird  mvist  have 
disappeared  ; — and  what  might  have  been  invisible  to 
Samuel,  through  the  darkness  of  the  hour,  ought  to  have 
been  seen  by  his  wife  in  the  morning  light ; — and  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  imagination  of  the  former  might  have  been 
a  little  affected,  still  l ho  case  of  the  latter — a  person  of  a 
much  cooler  temperament,  and  one  who  had  not  been  pass- 
ing through  the  same  nocturnal  process — preserves  the  whole 
in  its  native  force. 


62  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  subject  of  this  memoir.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
explain  this,  except  to  the  "natural  man,"  to 
whom  every  experimental  subject  is  mysterious. 
But  to  the  purely  enlightened  it  is  well  known 
that  the  discipline  experienced  in  the  school  of 
repentance,  in  which  the  "  heavy-laden1''  sinner 
"  labours"  under  an  oppressive  burden  prior  to 
his  entering  into  "  rest" — into  that  first  or  pre- 
paratory state  of  repose  consequent  on  his  justi- 
fication or  discharge  from  guilt — is  occasionally 
less  severe  than  the  discipline  which  is  after- 
wards exercised  in  the  school  of  Christ — into 
which  school  the  penitent  enters  immediately 
on  the  reception  of  pardon,  and  in  which,  prior 
to  his  reception  of  what  the  poet  styles  "  that 
second  rest,"  he  is  taught  to  "  learn"  of  Him  who 
was  "  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,"  and  while  un- 
der his  tuition,  has,  even  in  that  state,  to  bend 
the  neck  of  his  spirit  to  the  "  yoke"  which  his 
divine  Teacher  imposes.  Human  nature  is  not 
made  of  sufficiently  tractable  materials — has 
been  too  long  accustomed  to  an  improper  bias, 
to  sit  composed  under  the  restraints  of  such  a 
yoke,  or  instantly  to  yield  to  its  forms.  The 
workman  called  "the  old  man,"  is  hostile  to  all 
the  works  of  "  the  new  man  :"  and  will  not  su- 
pinely give  up  his  possessions.  On  the  justifi- 
cation of  a  sinner,  peace,  sweet  peace,  falls 
upon  the  soul  with  the  softness  of  flakes  of 
snow  ;  and  to  persons  in  an  imaginative  mood, 
it  is  as  easy — barring  the  coldness  of  the  meta- 
phor— to  perceive  the  soul  beautifully  covered 
with  it,  and  shining  in  its  external  whiteness  ; 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  63 

but  in  the  sanctification  of  the  spirit,  the  work 
goes  deeper  than  the  soul's  surface.  And,  to 
change  the  metaphor,  it  is  not  till  after  a  per- 
son's justification,  that  God  takes  the  lid  from 
off  the  top  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  human  heart, 
and  unfolds  to  view  its  hidden  filth — the  be- 
holder, like  an  unamiable  being  looking  at  him- 
self in  a  mirror,  being  startled  at  his  own  ap- 
pearance. The  pain  experienced  in  both  states, 
though -severe,  differs  in  its  character,  because 
produced  by  widely  different  causes.  Actual 
transgression  is  the  immediate  cause  of  peniten- 
tial distress,  and  innate  depravity  that  of  a  be- 
liever's grief—  the  one  finding  relief  in  an  act  of 
pardoning  mercy,  and  the  other  in  a  work  of 
purifying  grace  ;  or  in  other  words,  both  in  the 
death  of  Jesus  Christ,  through  the  merit  of 
whose  blood  the  guilt  of  sin  is  cancelled,  and  by 
the  virtue  of  whose  blood  the  pollution  of  the 
soul  is  cleansed ;  and  the  taint,  if  such  an  ex- 
pression may  be  allowed,  is  as  painful  and 
odious  to  the  enlightened  mind  as  is  its  guilt  to 
the  awakened  conscience.  To  the  woodman 
who  wishes  to  eradicate,  to  have  the  ground 
perfectly  clear,  it  is  as  mortifying  to  have  the 
roots  left  in  the  earth,  as  to  see  the  tree  stand- 
ing ;  and  having  cleft  the  one,  he  is  the  more 
solicitous  to  have  the  other  plucked  up,  not 
only  that  he  may  not  lose  what  he  has  already 
wrought,  but  that  he  may  prevent  its  again 
shooting  upward,  and  by  farther  growth  pro- 
ducing still  more  pernicious  fruit.  While  the 
misery  of  a  penitent  is  to  be  found  in  the  accu- 


64  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

sations  of  a  guilty  conscience,  followed  up  by 
awful  forebodings  of  "  wrath  to  come,"  the  be- 
liever's distress  arises  from  a  fear  of  falling — an 
inward  abhorrence  of  every  thing  rising  in  the 
soul    incompatible    with    unsullied    purity — an 
anxious  desire  after  a  full  conformity  to  the  di- 
vine   image — an    exquisitely   constituted    con- 
science, which  is  as  tender  to  the  touch  as  the 
apple   of  the   eye — the   consciousness  of  still 
possessing  a  heart  prone  to  wander  from  the 
living  God,  and  of  a  nature  upon  which  tempta- 
tion, without  great  watchfulness,  may  still  ope- 
rate to  the  ruin  of  the  soul — a  keener  insight 
into  the  spirituality  of  the  sacred  law — a  quick- 
sightedness  and  frequent  anticipations  of  danger 
— the  whole  working  the  mind  into  a  state  of 
earnestness  and  of  agony  to  be  "  freed  from  the 
yoke  of  inbred  sin."     In  the  latter  state  there 
is  no  sense  of  guilt,  nor  consequently  of  the 
divine    displeasure,    and  therefore   no  fear  of 
punishment ;  yet  there  is  a  continual  loathing 
of  self — "  war  in  the  members" — dying  to  live. 
AH  this  appears  to  have  been  known  and  felt 
by  Samuel  Hick,  whose  own  statement  leads  to 
the  conclusion,  that  he  suffered  much  more  as 
a  believer  than  as  a  penitent,  through  the  union 
of  which  two  characters  the  man  of  God  is  made 
perfect. 

After  he  had  risen  from  his  favourite  "  flag," 
for  which  he  entertained  a  kind  of  superstitious 
respect,  and  which  was  now  rendered  "  doubly 
dear,"  he  walked  forth  some  time  in  brightness 
The  blessing  of  purity,  which  he  had  received 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  65 

was  never  lost  through  actual  transgression  , 
and  although  he  was  twice  in  a  state  of  deep 
distress  respecting  its  evidence,  it  was  soon  re- 
gained by  the  exercise  of  the  same  means,  and 
an  application  to  the  same  source  through  which 
it  was  first  obtained.  "  lie  experienced  it," 
says  Mr.  Dawson,  "  upwards  of  thirty  years — 
lived  and  died  in  the  full  possession  of  its  ex- 
cellences. O,  with  what  warmth,  affection, 
and  pathos,  he  used  to  speak  of  his  enjoying 
the  perfect  love  of  God  in  his  heart ! — that  love 
which  casts  out  tormenting  fear,  and  strongly 
and  sweetly  constrains  the  whole  soul  to  en- 
gage in  the  whole  will  of  God,  as  revealed  in 
his  word."  This  love  expanded  his  naturally 
affectionate  heart,  and  his  bowels  yearned  for 
the  salvation  of  his  friends,  his  neighbours,  and 
the  world." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Samuel's  public  character — His  call  to  speak  in  public — 
A  dream — Reproves  a  clergyman — Assists  in  prayer  meet- 
ings— Visits  Howden  and  other  places — A  remarkable  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  of  God — His  power  in  prayer — Labours 
to  lie  Useful — Suits  his  language  and  thoughts  to  the  employ- 
ment of  persons  addressed — A  general  plan  laid  down  for 
the  spread  of  religion  in  the  villages  of  Garforth,  Barwick, 
&c. — Samuel  received  as  a  regular  local  preacher — His 
person — Intellect — Influence — Peculiarities — Tenderness — 
Language — Style  of  preaching — An  apology  for  Ins  ministry. 

Two  things  have  contributed  essentially  to 
the  spread  of  Wesleyan  Methodism;  first,  the 
5 


66  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

adaptation  of  its  rules  and  regulations  to  every 
condition  of  man  ;  and  secondly,  the  provision 
which  its  rules  have  made  for  the  encourage- 
ment and  exercise  of  every  description  ol  talent. 
Having  risen  out  of  circumstances,  it  accommo- 
dates itself  to  that  nature  which  is  the  same  in 
every  climate  to  which  those  circumstances 
belong ;  and  it  can  furnish  employment  for  all, 
from  the  youth  that  lisps  in  prayer  to  the  elo- 
quence of  the  pulpit — from  the  Village  Black- 
smith to  the  man  crowned  with  academical 
honours.  The  system,  under  God,  brought  into 
exercise  the  powers  possessed  by  Samuel 
Hick,  who  has  been  heard  to  say,  "  I  know 
that  the  Lord  has  given  me  owe  talent,  and  I  am 
resolved  to  use  it.  He  has  given  friend  1).  ten, 
but  1  am  determined  that  he  shall  never  run 
away  with  my  one."  And  to  his  honour  it  may 
be  recorded,  that  he  made  his  one  go  much 
further  in  real  interest  to  the  cause  of  God,  than 
many  with  ten  times  the  intellect  and  influence. 
He  appears  to  have  exercised  occasionally 
in  public,  prior  to  the  revival  of  the  work  of 
God  at  Sturton  Grange.  Mr.  Dawson  remarks, 
"  that  he  first  engaged  in  the  prayer-meetings, 
and  next  spoke  a  word  by  way  of  exhortation. 
The  last  was  done  like  himself,  and  always 
gained  the  attention  of  his  hearers."  Exclusive 
of  a  distinct  impression  upon  his  mind  that  it 
w  as  his  duty  to  call  sinners  to  repentance,  he 
was  not  a  little  influenced  by  a  dream  which 
he  had,  and  to  which  he  might  lie  excused  for 
paying  the  greater  attention,  as  God  employed 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  67 

a  dream  for  the  purpose  of  rousing  him  from 
spiritual  slumber  ;  and  more  especially  might 
he  lie  excused,  when  revelation  warrants  the 
belief,  that  "in  a  dream,  in  a  vision  of  the 
night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men,  in 
slumbers  upon  the  bed  ;  then"  God  "  openeth 
the  ears  of  men  and  sealeth  their  instruc- 
tion." The  substance  of  it  was  this  : — He 
dreamed  one  night  that  he  set  sail  to  the  West 
Indies  in  the  character  of  a  missionary,  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor  negroes — that,  on 
his  landing,  he  saw  a  pulpit,  the  stairs  of  which 
he  ascended — and,  on  unfolding  the  leaves  of 
the  Bible,  which  was  laid  before  him,  a  perfect 
blank  was  presented  to  his  eye.  "  A  pretty 
thing  this,"  said  he  to  himself;  "a  Bible,  and 
not  a  text  in  it !"  He  turned  over  the  leaves 
again  and  again,  and  suddenly  on  one  of  the 
white  pages  several  beautiful  gold  letters  sprang 
into  form,  and  dazzled  his  sight.  The  words 
were,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,"  &c. 
These  he  announced  as  his  text,  and  began  to 
preach.  In  the  course  of  the  sermon  a  poor 
Lilian  was  so  affected  while  intently  listening 
to  him,  and  gazing  upon  him,  that  she  cried 
aloud  for  mercy.  He  instantly  quitted  the  pul- 
pit, descended  its  steps,  directed  his  way  to  the 
penitent,  prayed  with  her,  and  soon  had  the 
unspeakable  pleasure  of  hearing  her  proclaim 
the  mercy  of  God  in  the  forgiveness  of  her 
sins.  From  this  pleasing  dream  he  awoke  ; 
and  under  its  wannest  impression,  exclaimed  to 
his  wife,  accosting  her  by  name,  "  Matty,  I  be- 


68  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

lieve  I  am  called  to  preach  the  gospel."  Mar- 
tha, less  awake  to  the  subject  than  himself, 
requested  him  to  go  to  sleep  again,  not  a  little 
infidel  in  her  principles  respecting  it. 

This  relation  was  given  in  his  own  ivaij,  on  a 
platform,  at  the  first  Wesleyan  missionary 
meeting  held  at  Selby,  November  16th,  1814, 
before  a  crowded  audience,  when  the  writer  of 
this  memoir  was  present,  together  with  Mr. 
Dawson  and  others,  and  for  the  first  time  was 
favoured  with  the  sight  of  Samuel.  The  de- 
scription of  the  vessel  in  which  he  made  his 
voyage,  which  is  too  ludicrous  to  appear  among 
graver  associations — his  suddenly  turning  to  the 
pulpit,  and  pointing  to  it  as  a  model  of  the  one 
in  which  he  supposed  himself  to  have  preached 
— the.  familiarity  of  some  of  his  comparisons, 
his  views  rising  no  higher,  in  reference  to  the 
gold  characters,  from  his  days  having  been 
spent  mostly  in  the  country,  than  some  of  the 
more  costly  sign-boards  of  the  tradesman — his 
grotesque  figure,  and  still  more  characteristic 
action,  for  the  latter  of  which  he  was  not  a  little 
indebted  to  his  trade,  his  arms  being  stretched 
out,  with  his  hands  locked  in  each  other,  while 
he  elevated  and  lowered  them  as  though  he 
had  been  engaged  at  the  anvil ;  varying  in  his 
movements  as  he  rose  in  zeal  and  quickened  in 
delivery,  becoming  more  and  more  emphatic — 
his  tears — his  smiles — his  tenderness — his  sim- 
plicity— the  adroitness  with  which  he  turned 
upon  the  text,  the  effects  of  the  sermon,  &c.  to 
strengthen   his   call  to  the   work — the  manner 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  69 

in  which  he  brought  the  subject  to  bear  upon 
the  object  of  the  meeting — and  his  offering 
himself  in  the  fulness  of  his  spirit  at  the  close 
as  a  missionary,  telling  the  people  that  his 
"  heart  was  good,"  his  "  health  was  good,"  and 
his  "  appetite  was  good  ;"  that  he  wanted  not 
their  money,  but  would  bear  his  own  expenses; 
and  that,  sustaining  his  own  burden,  he  should 
consider  it,  provided  family  connections  would 
admit,  the  highest  honour  that  could  be  con- 
ferred upon  him  ; — the  whole,  in  short,  pro- 
ducing, both  upon  the  platform  and  among  the 
people,  an  effect  rarely  witnessed,  and  a  scene 
calculated  to  move  on  with  the  memory,  and 
live   as   a   distinct  picture   in    the  imagination. 

That  he  had  other  and  more  substantial 
proofs  of  his  call  to  exercise  in  public,  there  is 
no  question  ;  but  the  above  shows  the  peculiar 
cast  of  his  mind,  and  his  attention  to  what  was 
passing  within,  whether  asleep  or  awake,  to- 
gether with  his  readiness  to  convert  every  thing 
to  pious  purposes — manifesting,  in  innumerable 
instances,  stronger  evidences  of  piety  than  of 
judgment. 

He  regularly  attended  Micklefield  chapel-of- 
ease,  in  which  service  was  performed  about 
this  time,  once  a  fortnight  on  the    Lord's  clay, 

by  the  Rev. T.,  of  Monkfryson,  a  village 

about  five  miles  distant.  Mr.  T.  had  ten  shil- 
lings and  sixpence  per  day  allowed  him  for  his 
labour;  but  neither  exhibiting  the  morality  of 
the  gospel  in  his  life,  nor  preaching  its  doc- 
trines in  the  pulpit, — denying  the  inspiration  of 


70  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  Spirit  in  his  sermon,  after  the   people  had 
been  praying  for  it  in  the  liturgy,  Samuel  took 

the  liberty  of  addressing  him  on  the  subject  one 
day,  as  he  was  passing  his  door  on  his  way  to 
Fryson.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  I  must  tell  you  that 
you  do  not  preach  the  gospel.  You  say  that 
there  has  been  no  such  thing  as  inspiration 
since  the  apostles'  days.  Your  sermon  contra- 
dicts your  prayers  ;  and  I  know  by  experience 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  inspiration."  He 
added,  "  I  have  been  praying  to  my  Lord  either 
to  convert  you,  that  you  may  preach  the  truth, 
or  that  he  vvoidd  send  some  one  else  to  preach 
it ;  and  I  fully  believe  that  he  will  not  let  you 
come  here  much  longer."  Mr.  T.  said  little  in 
reply  :  and  though  Samuel's  rebuke  might  be 
deemed  a  compound  of  ignorance  and  of  impu- 
dence, by  those  who  knew  him  least,  yet  such 
was  the  event,  that  Mr.  T.  only  preached  in 
Micklefi<dd  church  chapel  two  or  three  times 
afterward,  and  an  evangelical  clergyman  sup- 
plied for  some  time  his  place.  The  fact  is 
simply  stated  ;  every  reader  may  select  and 
enjoy  his  own  inference  ;  but  place  Samuel's 
prayer  out  of  the  question,  his  fidelity — and  this 
is  the  chief  design  of  the  illation — is  of  more 
real  value  in  the  illustration  of  character,  than 
any  conjecture  as  to  the  cause  of  t lie  change. 
In  the  earlier  part  of  his  public  history,  to 
which  it  is  proper  to  return,  an  extensive  field 
of  usefulness  was  laid  before  him,  in  the  lino 
which  Providence  apparently  marked  nut  for  the 
"  Praying   Colliers,"   with    whose    labours   his 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITM.  71 

own  were  soon  identified.  Wherever  he  went 
he  was  popular  and  useful ;  but  his  popularity- 
was  rather  the  result  of  singularity,  than  drawn 
upon  him  by  any  peculiar  display  of  pulpit 
talent ;  while  his  usefulness  was  chiefly  among 
those  of  his  own  order — though  he  was  highly 
respected  by  his  superiors  in  talent  and  in  pro- 
perty. Not  being  as  yet,  however,  a  regularly 
accredited  local  preacher,  remarks  on  his  men- 
tal powers,  and  the  character  and  style  of  his 
public  addresses,  must  be  reserved  for  the  pe- 
riod when  he  was  fairly  brought  upon  the  local 
preachers'  plan. 

One  of  his  earliest  public  excursions  was 
into  the  Hull  circuit,  whither  he  was  invited  in 
company  with  the  "  Colliers,"  and  from  the 
outskirts  of  which  no  less  than  seven  horses 
were  sent  to  carry  them  and  their  colleagues  to 
the  first  scene  of  labour — Spaldin jjtoa  Out- 
side, where  they  were  met  by  the  Ilev.  James 
Wood,  the  superintendent: — a  pilgrimage  this, 
which,  while  it  might  have  furnished  Chaucer 
with  an  episode  for  his  "  Canterbury  Tales," 
would  have  greatly  enhanced  their  devotional 
character.  Samuel  was  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  the  hejven  which  the  witness  of  his  sanctifl- 
cation  had  imparted,  and  was  ready  to  conclude, 
as  he  observed,  that  "  the  enemy  of  souls  was 
dead,  because"  he  himself  "  was  dead  to  sin  ;" 
but  he  found  that  ha  was  only  entering  the  field 
of  battle;  rejoicing  meanwhile  that  he  "was 
provided  with  the  whole  armour  of  God." 

Mr.  Wood,  whose  judgment,  gravity,  and  ex- 


72  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

perience,  would  operate  as  a  suitable  check  to 
the  ebulliency  of  spirit  of  tbese  revivalists,  ac- 
companied them  to  several  places.  Howden 
was  the  first  place  at  which  an  extraordinary 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  manifested  ; 
and  was  especially  felt  in  a  prayer-meeting,  in 
the  awakening  of  sinners,  many  of  whom, 
Samuel  observed,  "  cried  out  like  the  slain  in 
battle."  Several  of  the  old  members,  offended 
with  the  noise,  left  the  chapel.  "  They  could 
not  stand  this,"  said  Samuel ;  adding  in  his  pe- 
culiar turn  of  thought,  "  It  was  a  mercy  they 
went  out ;  for  it  rid  the  place  of  a  deal  of  unbe- 
lief, which  the)'  took  away  with  them."  Pre- 
viously to  leaving  the  chapel  himself,  he  had  a 
rencounter  with  one  of  his  own  trade,  a  genuine 
son  of  Vulcan,  who  might  have  been  drawn  to 
the  spot  from  what  he  had  heard  of  the  Village 
Blacksmith.  Samuel  was  pressing  home,  by 
personal  appeal,  the  subject  of  experimental 
religion  upon  an  old  man,  when  the  person  re- 
ferred to  came  up  to  him,  and  requested  him  to 
let  the  old  man  alone,  declaring  him  to  be  ex- 
ceeded by  no  one  in  the  town  for  honesty,  and 
affirming  his  belief  that  he  would  go  to  heaven 
when  he  died.  Samuel  brought  him  to  the  test 
of  "sin  forgiven  ;"  stating,  if  he  knew  not  this, 
he  doubted  of  his  safety.  His  opponent  imme- 
diately fired,  telling  him,  if  he  said  so  again,  he 
would  "  fell"  him.  This  was  language  which 
Samuel  would  nol  have  brooked  on  the  day  he 
heard  Air.  Burdsall,  at  York,  without  the  metal 
of  his   own   temper  being  heated  to  the  same 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  73 

temperature  with  that  of  the  person  who  stood 
before  him  ;  but  he  was  now  another  man,  and 
fought  with  other  weapons.  He  replied  with  un- 
daunted brow,  "  I  have  no  fear  of  that  :  if  you  lift 
your  hand  up,  I  believe  you  will  not  get  it  down 
again."  So  saying,  lie  dropped  upon  his  knees, 
and  began  to  pray  for  the  man,  who,  apparently 
afraid  lest  the  prayer  should  turn  upon  judgment 
rather  than  mercy,  made  a  precipitate  flight. 

After  the  service  was  closed,  he  went  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Ward,  a  local  preacher,  where  he 
ivas  invited  to  spend  the  night.  The  good  lady 
)f  the  house,  being  of  the  Baptist  persuasion, 
tvas  less  prepared  than  her  husband  for  the 
feverish  agitation  attendant  on  some  of  the 
prayer-meetings,  and,  agreeably  to  her  own 
riews,  lectured  Samuel  on  the  subject,  declaring 
:hat  he  and  his  associates  were  destroying  the 
ivork  of  God,  and  that  they  had  made  the  house 
if  God  a  house  of  confusion  ;  warmly  recom- 
mending decency  and  order.  "  Confusion  !" 
he  exclaimed  ;  "  I  believe  there  was  such  con- 
fusion, and  great  confusion,  too,  on  the  day  of 
pentecost."  But  it  was  not  for  him  to  stand 
and  reason  the  case  with  his  hostess,  however 
competent  to  the  task ;  he  therefore  adopted 
his  "  short  and  easy  method"  of  settling  dis- 
putes, by  going  to  prayer ;  "  for  I  thought," 
said  he,  "  she  and  I  should  agree  best  upon  our 
knees."  He  there  poured  forth  his  petitions 
with  great  simplicity  and  fervour  for  her  and 
for  the  family.  When  he  arose,  she  affection- 
ately took  him  by  the  hand,  which  to  him  was 


71  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  On  finding 
another  spirit  in  her,  he  told  her,  that  in  most 
revivals  of  religion  "  three  sorts  of  work"  might 
be  recognised — "  the  work  of  God,  the  work  of 
man,  and  the  work  of  the  devil ;"  stating,  that 
when  the  latter  two  were  destroyed,  the  first 
would  stand ;  and  that  we  should  be  careful 
not  to  injure  the  one  in  suppressing  the  other. 
The  good  lady  was  so  completely  overcome  by 
the  sincerity  and  simplicity  of  his  intentions, 
his  spirit,  and  his  manners,  that  she  made  it  her 
study  to  render  his  stay  as  agreeable  as  possi- 
ble, by  heaping  upon  him  every  social  comfort. 
His  mode  of  conducting  a  discussion,  or  more 
properly  of  terminating  one,  was  the  best  adapted 
to  his  own  case,  and  might  be  safely  recom- 
mended in  nine  instances  out  of  every  ten, 
where  the  best  side  of  a  question  is  entertained 
with  the  worst  arguments  for  its  support ;  for 
certainly  a  question  is  not  to  be  decided  by  the 
merits  of  the  person  who  takes  it  up  ;  and  the 
best  of  causes  may  have  the  feeblest  advocates. 
The  next  day  the  party  went  to  Spaldington 
Outside,  at  which  place  a  gentleman  of  the 
name  of  Bell  at  present  resides  ;  and  such  was 
the  concourse  of  people  collected  together  from 
neighbouring  and  distant  parts,  that  no  building 
could  be  found  sufficiently  large  to  accommo- 
date them.  The  horses  of  those  that  rode  wero 
tied  to  the  gales  and  hedges, — giving  the  dis- 
tant appearance  of  a  troop  of  cavalry,  and  the 
company  divided  themselves  into  two  distinct 
bands,  and  occupied  two  large  barns.     In  tha 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  75 

bam  originally  intended  for  th«  meeting,  a  tem- 
porary platform  was  erected  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  prayer-leaders,  exhorters,  and 
more  respectable  portion  of  the  female  part  of 
the  auditory.  The  latter,  in  the  estimation  of 
Samuel,  were  mere  spectators  of  the  work  of 
God  upon  others.  The  influence,  however, 
becoming  more  general,  one  of  these,  under 
deep  awakenings  of  soul,  cried  aloud  for  mercy; 
and  as  though  determined  to  be  avenged  of  her 
besetting  sin,  her  love  of  finery,  she  made  a 
sacrifice  of  part  of  her  adornings  upon  the  spot, 
by  throwing  them  among  the  poorer  people  be- 
low. With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  extra- 
vagances— the  absence  of  which  had  been 
more  remarkable  than  their  manifestation,  and 
which  are  subjects  of  forbearance  rather  than 
approval  under  all  such  circumstances — the 
meeting  was  attended  with  great  good. 

From  this  place  they  proceeded  to  Newport, 
where  several  persons  were  convinced  of  sin, 
and  others  found  peace  with  God ;  the  service 
continued  till  midnight :  Mr.  James  Wood  con- 
ducted the  meeting,  which  was  distinguished 
by  great  decorum.  Instead  of  going  to  Hull  the 
succeeding  day,  as  previously  arranged,  Samuel 
was  obliged  to  return  home.  But  it  was  of  no 
importance  where  he  was :  on  the  road,  in  his 
shop,  in  the  field,  he  was  ceaseless  in  his  at- 
tempts to  benefit  those  who  came  in  his  way. 

Journeying  homeward,  he  saw  a  young  man 
sowing  seed  in  a  field,  whom  he  accosted  in 
his  usually  abrupt,  yet  'affectionate  manner  ; — 


76  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

"  You  seem  in  effrnest.  Have  you  had  time  to 
water  your  seed  ?"  "  No,"  returned  the  sower; 
"  we  never  water  this  kind  of  seed  :  it  is  wheat, 
not  rye,  that  we  steep,  and  sprinkle  with  lime." 
Samuel  had  another  object  in  view,  and  said, 
"  That  is  not  what  I  want  to  be  at :  have  you 
been  on  your  knees  this  morning,  praying  to 
God  to  give  his  blessing  to  the  seed  ?"  This 
instantly  brought  the  charge  of  Methodism  upon 
him.  "  O,  you  are  a  Methodist!  If  you  had 
been  at  our  church  yesterday,  you  would  have 
heard  our  parson  give  them  their  character." 
"  You  had  a  poor  errand  there,"  was  the  reply  : 
"  if  the  Methodists  are  wrong,  you  ought  to 
pray  for  them  to  be  set  right."  It  was  in  this 
way  that  he  was  constantly  scattering  seed — 
not  always  skilfully,  yet  often  seasonably ;  for 
there  were  many  instances  of  its  falling  into 
"  good  ground." 

He  did  not  always  escape  with  the  same 
triumphant  feeling  as  that  with  which  he  with- 
drew from  the  sower  just  noticed,  in  his  at- 
tempts at  usefulness.  Though  his  knowledge 
was  limited  within  very  narrow  bounds,  yet,  as 
far  as  it  extended,  his  sense  of  propriety  always 
led  him  to  delight  in  seeing  any  employment 
attended  to  in  a  workmanlike  maimer.  On 
another  occasion  he  perceived  a  youth  turning 
up  a  piece  of  land  with  the  plough.  His  pa- 
tience, which  was  occasionally  one  of  his  most 
vulnerable  parts,  being  a  little  touched  with  the 
carelessness  and  awkwardness  of  the  lad,  he 
shouted  out,  as  ho  paused  a  moment  to  look  at 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  77 

him,  "  How  dare  you  attempt  to  plough  my 
Lord's  land  in  that  way  ?"  proceeding  to  give 
some  directions,  when  he  was  stopped  short  by 
him, — thus  showing  not  only  his  quickness  in 
comprehending  Samuel's  allusion  to  the  Divine 
Proprietor,  but  his  smartness  in  so  promptly 
meeting  him  in  his  own  character, — "  I  am 
turning  up  a  bowling-green  for  the  devil :"  inti- 
mating as  much  as  though  any  thing  done,  and 
in  any  way,  was  good  enough  for  the  purpose 
to  which  the  ground  was  to  be  devoted.  This 
was  so  much  relished  by  Samuel,  that  the  no- 
tions of  agricultural  propriety  which  were  flut- 
tering in  his  imagination,  and  to  which  he  was 
about  to  give  utterance,  broke  up  like  a  congre- 
gation of  swallows  in  autumn — took  instant 
flight,  only  to  return  with  the  appearance  of  the 
plough  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing  spring ;  as 
also  did  all  the  moral  lessons  which  he  intended 
to  found  on  the  employment  in  which  the  lad 
was  engaged. 

Another  field  of  labour  opened  to  him  after 
this  period,  more  regular  and  permanent  in  its 
character,  and  much  more  accommodating  to 
his  circumstances.  "About  the  year,  171)7," 
says  Mr.  Dawson,  "  a  plan  was  laid  down  to  en- 
gage the  talents  of  all  the  prayer-leaders  and 
exhorters  in  the  villages  of  Garforth,  Barwick, 
Kippax,  and  Micklefield,  together  with  oilier 
places  in  the  vicinity  ;  all  of  whom  were  to  be 
united,  and  to  itinerate  through  the  whole 
neighbourhood.  Brother  Hick  very  readily 
agreed  to  have  his  name  entered  upon  the  plan. 


78  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

and  having  a  horse  at  command,  he  could  go  to 
the  most  distant  places  without  difficulty.  He 
attended  promptly  and  conscientiously  to  his 
appointments,  so  long  as  the  union  existed  ; 
and  it  was  this  plan  that  brought  him  to  the 
notice  of  many  persons  who  otherwise  would 
not  have  been  acquainted  with  him,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  future  and  more  widely  ex- 
tended usefulness.  After  this,  his  name  was 
placed  upon  the  regular  local  preachers'  plan, 
of  the  Pontefract  circuit,  the  places  of  which  he 
supplied  with  pleasure  to  himself  and  profit  to 
the  people,  to  whom  he  recommended  the  per- 
son and  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ.  When 
Micklefield  was  taken  into  the  Selby  circuit,  his 
name  was  inserted  in  the  plan  of  the  local 
preachers  belonging  to  that  circuit ;  but  resid- 
ing on  the  borders  of  the  Selby  and  Pontefract 
circuits,  his  name  stood  on  both  plans."*  In 
reference  to  the  last  particular,  Mr.  Dawson 
proceeds,  "  I  remember  calling  upon  him  one 
day,  when  he  observed  that  his  time  was  pretty 
well  filled  up,  saying,  '  You  see  I  have  my 
name  upon  both  Pontefract  and  Selby  plans  ;' 
emphatically  adding,  '  there  is  no  living  with 
half  work?"      It  was  his  "meat  and  his  drink" 

*  This  \v;is  considerably  subsequent  to  the  period  of  1797, 
when  the  general  plan  was  made,  which  associated  the 
prayer-leaden  with  the  exhorters.  One  of  Samuel's  con- 
temporaries  thinks  it  was  not  till  L803  that  he  was  regularly 
admitted  on  the  plan,  though  he  had  addressed  public  assem- 
blies from  th  d  -as  above.  Prior  to  the  \<nr  1807, 
the  plana  ol  die  Pontefracl  circuit  were  written;  after  that, 
they  were  printed.  Selby  became  the  head  of  a  circuit  in 
1812. 


THE    VILLAGE    IILACKSMITH.  79 

like  Him  "  who  went  about  doing  good,"  to  do 
the  will  of  his  Father;  and  in  the  execution  of 
that  will  he  alone  could  live. 

The  first  time  he  ventured  to  take  a  te«* 
was  in  a  school-room  in  Aberford,  his  native 
place  ;  and  it  was  the  one  with  which  he  was 
dazzled  in  his  dream.  The  room  was  crowd- 
ed ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  success  of  this, 
and  a  few  similar  attempts,  might  have  led  the 
way  for  the  insertion  of  his  name  on  the  plan 
among  "  exhorters."  That  the  attempt  was 
prior  to  such  insertion,  is  likely  from  the  fact 
of  the  person  belonging  to  the  school-rooin 
having  joined  Mr.  Kilham's  adherents  soon 
after  the  division,  on  the  event  of  which  there 
would  be  but  little  disposition  to  grant  the  loan 
of  the  place,  owing  to  the  state  of  party  feeling 
which  was  then  at  the  highest  point  of  eleva- 
tion. He  had  large  congregations  in  those 
days ;  and  when  he  had  no  regular  appoint- 
ment, he  very  often,  in  company  with  his 
friend  William  Brandfoot,  travelled  from  ten  to 
fifteen  miles  to  a  love-feast ; — an  example,  by 
the  way,  which  is  not  much  to  be  commended, 
and  which  becomes  criminal — though  far  from 
the  case  with  Samuel — when  persons  give  the 
preference  to  a  love-feast  in  the  country  to  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper  in  the  town,  and 
nearly  at  their  own  door.  Being  now  fairly  be- 
fore the  public,  it  is  desirable  that  a  distinct 
image  of  the  man  should  be  put  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  reader,  that  he  may  have  a  more 
correct  conception  of  the  personage  with  whom 


80  THF.    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

he  passes  along,  instead  of  being  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  kind  of  invisible  agent,  with  whom 
he  is  permitted  to  converse  in  the  dark,  till  the 
writer,  in  the  usual  biographical  mode,  and  as 
though  his  pen  had  been  previously  employed 
on  some  other  person,  is  pleased  to  unveil  his 
subject  at  the  close  of  his  work  in  the  exhibition 
of  a  summary  sketch  of  his  character.  The 
subject  of  this  memoir  may  be  considered  at 
this  period  as  possessing  that  which,  in  the  ge- 
neral acceptation  of  the  term,  properly  consti- 
tutes character,  and  that  too  perfectly  distinct  in 
itself.  Instead,  therefore,  of  throwing  the  mind 
of  the  reader  bach,  at  the  close  of  the  book, 
upon  that  which  has  grottm  out  of  character,  and 
not  character  from  it,  he  must  carrv  forward 
with  him  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  MAN, 
through  which  he  will  be  the  better  prepared 
for  all  that  may  follow,  as  well  as  judge  of  the 
likeness  given — the  one  proceeding  from  the 
other  like  the  tree  from  the  root,  the  bough 
from  the  stem,  and  the  fruit  from  the  minor 
branches  ;  just  as  character  gives  rise  to  cir- 
cumstances, and  circumstances  become  the 
medium  through  which  the  tempers  of  the  mind 
and  dispositions  of  the  heart  are  manifested, 
unfolding  themselves  toothers,  cither  as  whole- 
some or  pernicious  fruit. 

There  was  but  little  that  might  be  deemed 
prepossessing  in  his  person.  He  was  tall  and 
bony,  rising  to  the  height  of  about  six  feet. 
Hard  labour,  and  the  nature  of  his  employment 
— lowering  one  arm  with  the  iron,  and  raising 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  81 

the  other  with  the  hammer,  while  he  stooped 
at  the  anvil — gave  a  roundness  to  the  upper 
part  of  his  back,  and  a  slight  elevation  to  his 
right  shoulder.  His  hair  was  naturally  light — ■ 
his  complexion  fair — his  face  full,  but  more  in- 
clined to  the  oval  than  the  round — and  his  ge- 
neral features  small,  with  a  soft,  quick,  blue 
gray,  twinkling  eye,  partaking  of  the  character 
of  his  mind,  twinkling  in  thought,  and  sending 
out  occasional  and  inexpressible  natural  beau- 
ties, like  streaks  of  sunshine  between  other- 
wise darkly  rolling  clouds. 

His  mind  was  peculiarly  constructed,  and  had 
all  the  effect  in  preaching  and  in  conversation 
of  an  intellect  broken  into  fragments — not  shi- 
ning forth  as  a  whole,  like  the  sun  diffusing 
light  and  day ;  but  the  scattered  portions  shi- 
ning separately,  like  stars  in  the  heavens  ;  and 
these  too  not  silently  and  slowly  stealing  out, 
one  by  one,  but  suddenly  breaking  upon  the  eye 
in  numbers,  and  from  unexpected  quarters,  some 
of  them  but  indistinctly  visible,  and  others  as 
lovely  as  Venus  in  all  her  glory.  He  appeared 
utterly  incapable  of  classifying  his  thoughts  ;* 

*  In  the  more  lengthened  extracts  given  from  his  papers, 
the  writer  has  occasionally  taken  the  liberty  of  transposing 
some  of  the  thoughts,  for  the  sake  of  preserving  something 
like  unity  and  order ;  attending  at  the  same  time,  with  the 
strictest  scrupulosity,  to  the  sense  intended  to  be  conveyed 
to  the  reader.  Samuel  was  not  altogether  ignorant  of  the 
character  and  extent  of  his  intellectual  powers,  any  m«*e 
than  of  his  moral  condition.  Speaking  of  him  t<>  Dr.  A. 
Clarke  once,  the  writer  found  tl  at  Samuel  had  visited  him 
at  his  residence,  Haydon  Hall,  n°ar  Pinner.  Middlesex,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  which  the  doctor  sent  him  to  conduct  a 
,e.  gious  meeting,  with  a  view  to  communicate,  unaej  Godi 
6 


82  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

and  it  is  doubted  by  tbc  writer,  whether  any 
mode  of  mental  discipline  which  eoidd  have 
been  adopted,  even  in  youth,  would  have  re- 
duced his  then  comparatively  chaotic  mind  to 
order;  and  equally  doubtful,  whether  any  so- 
ciety, with  such  a  peculiarly  constructed  mind, 
would  have  given  ease,  and  grace,  and  polish 
to  his  manners.  Yet  rude,  or,  perhaps,  more 
properly  un wieldly,  as  were  the  latter,  there 
was  nothing  to  offend  ;  for  while  persons  in  the 
middle  ranks  of  life  were  not  at  a  sufficient 
remove  from  him  to  form  a  contrast,  those  in 
the  higher  walks  of  society  were  instantly  ar- 
rested by  an  undefinablc  something  about  him 
which  taught  them,  that  that  which  might  not 
comport  with  good  taste,  was,  nevertheless,  that 
which  ought  to  be  borne,  and  by  an  impression 
in  his  favour,  which  would  instantly  compel  every 
high-wrought  feeling,  and  all  etiquette,  to  bow 

a  quickening  influence  to  the  people,  for  which,  as  an  in- 
strument, he  was  tolerably  calculated.  The  doctor  bad  met 
with  him  at  Bristol,  in  Yorkshire,  prior  to  this  period  ;  and 
related  with  a  ilcirrcc  of  pleasantry — for  it  was  impossible 
for  the  most,  grave  to  relate  some  of  his  conversations  with- 
out a  slight  contortion  of  the  facial  nerve  —his  first  interview 
with  him.  Samuel,  with  his  usual  openness  anil  simplicity, 
covered  with  smiles,  stepped  quickly  up  to  the  doctor,  shook 
hands  with  him,  and  after  a  few  words,  artlessly  proceeded 
thus: — "You  can  L'et  through  with  preaching  better  than 
me  :  1  cannot  bear  to  be  disturbed  :  I  have  but  one  idea,  you 
see:  and  if  1  lose  that,  why,  1  have  then  no  more  to  go  to: 
but  you,  sir,  you  have  a  many  ideas  ;   so  that  if  you  were  to 

lose  one,  you  could  pick  up  another  by  the  way,  and  go  on 
with  it."  By  "dim'  idea,"  he  meant  the  leading  thought  on 

which  he  intended  to  due  I.  While  the  relation  assists 
in  the  illustration  of  intellei  m  al  character,  it  shows  also  the 

desolation  which  sometimes  appeared  to  I self,  occasioned 

by  a  want  of  reading,  when  he  turned  his  eye  inward. 


TIIK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  83 

before  the  untutored  blacksmith — entering,  be- 
fore he  was  long  in  their  presence,  into  the  real 
enjoyment  of  his  society  and  conversation,  and 
delightfully  embracing  opportunities  for.  again 
holding  converse  with  him.     To  persons  in  the 
polished  circles  it  was  a  relief  to  the  mind  to  be 
with  him — one  of  those  novel  scenes  but  oc- 
casionally met  with    in  the   landscape  of  life. 
Instead  of  the    dull,  monotonous  plain,  whose 
richest   garb   becomes  common-place  by   con- 
stantly gazing  upon  it,  in  Samuel   it  was  like 
broken  rocks,  wood  and  water  ;  a  piece  of  moor 
land,    with  patches    of  rich    soil   beneath  the 
heath,  with  here  and  there  a  flower  of  surpris- 
ing beauty  springing  up  in  the  midst  of  the  wil- 
derness scene  ;  the  whole  contributing  to  show 
the  effect  of  grace  upon  nature — and  a  nature  too 
which,  without   that  grace,  could  never   have 
been  subdued   into   any  thing  like  decorum  or 
sobriety.     This  might  appear  to  some,  and  may 
not   improbably  be  subjected  to  the  charge,  as 
partaking  a  little   too    much  of  the  pencil  and 
colouring  of  the    artist ;    as  permitting,  in  the 
real  character  of  romance,  the  imagination  to  be, 
let  loose  upon  a  subject  which  ought  to  command 
the  graver  exercise  of  reason.     The  fact  is — 
for  not  any  thing  shall  be  permitted  to  operate 
to  the  suppression  of  truth,  and  the  Christianity 
of  the  case  has  nothing  to  fear  in  the  way  of 
consequence — the  fact  is,  that  such  a  man,  and 
such  a  life  might— and  it  is  penned   with  re- 
verence— might,  without  the  aid  of  imagination, 
without  any  art  or  exaggeration,  form  the  ground- 


84  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

work  of  a  lighter  exhibition,  say — a  farcp,  to 
the  awfully  solemn,  and  splendid  representation 
of  the  Christian  religion.  But  then,  religion 
had  nothing  to  do  in  the  construction  of  the 
man's  "mind — a  mind  more  nearly  allied  to  the 
comic  than  the  tragic,  in  its  operations,  and 
whose  effects,  though  perfectly  undesigned  on 
the  part  of  the  actor,  laid  a  more  powerful  hold 
upon  the  lighter  than  the  graver  feelings. 
(  hristianity  took  the  man  as  it  found  him,  and 
performed  upon  him  its  grand  work,  which  is 
n<>t  to  change  the  construction  of  the  mind  so 
much  as  its  nature  ;  to  effect,  in  other  words, 
its  illumination  and  renovation  :  nor  is  it  re- 
quisite, to  compare  temporal  things  with  spi- 
ritual, in  cleansing  a  building,  to  change  the 
position  of  either  a  dour  or  a  window.  The 
grace  of  God  was  observed  to  lay  a  strong  hand 
upon  an  otherwise  untractable  nature — making 
li^lit  shine  into  darkness,  as  well  as  out  of  it — 
straightening  the  crookedness  of  fallen  hu- 
manity— planting  flowers  where  nothing  but  the 
rankest  weeds  would  have  grown — forcing  by 
an  irresistible  power,  an  untaught,  and,  in  some 
respects,  though  not  in  the  strongest  sense,  an 
uncouth  being — upon  society,  and  compelling 
the  wisdom,  the  wealth,  the  dignity  of  this 
world  to  bow  before  that  being — one,  who, 
without  the  grace  of  God,  would  have  been  in 
danger  of  being  despised,  and  vet  the  despisers, 
through  that  grace,  acknowledging  the  power 
of  the  Supreme  in  a  thing  of   naught, 

This  is  not  a  subject  slightly  to  be  dismissed. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  85 

Samuel  Hick  was  untaught  in  the  school  of 
this  world  ;  art  would  have  been  lost  upon  him  ; 
he  was  one  upon  whom  education  and  polished 
society,  as  already  hinted,  could  never  have 
had  their  full  effect;  he  seemed  formed  by  na- 
ture, as  well  as  designed  by  Providence,  for  the 
forge  ;  and  not  any  thing  short  of  the  grace  of 
God  appears  to  have  been  capable  of  construct- 
ing more  than  a  blacksmith  out  of  the  materials 
of  which  he  was  composed.  It  was  never  in- 
tended that  the  hand  of  a  Phidias  should  work 
upon  him.  Such  was  the  peculiar  vein,  though 
excellent  in  itself,  that  it  would  never  have 
paid  for  the  labour.  No  man  with  greater  self- 
appropriation — not  even  the  apostle  himself — 
could  exclaim,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am 
what  I  am  ;"  or  with  the  poet,  "  O,  to  grace  how- 
great  a  debtor  !" 

Not  any  thing,  however,  that  has  been  ad- 
vanced on  his  mental  endowments  and  capa- 
bilities, and  as  applicable  to  him  as  a  fallen 
being,  in  common  with  others  of  the  same 
species,  is  intended  in  the  least  to  deny  him 
the  credit  of  possessing  great  openness  of  dis- 
position, and  unbounded  generosity.  The  latter 
was  expressed,  not  always  gracefully  but  ho- 
nestly and  warmly ;  and  like  the  sea-anemone, 
which  feels  the  first  returning  wave  upon  the 
rock,  and  throws  out  all  its  tendrils,  his  tender 
nature  would  give  forth  all  its  sympathies  on 
the  slightest  intimation  of  human  wo.  United 
to  uncommon  tenderness  of  heart,  there  was  a 
sincerity  and  a  simplicity  which  no  one  could 


86  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

resist,  which  linked  him  to  every  spirit  he 
came  near,  and  which,  while  his  own  yearn 
iu^s  led  him  to  weep  over  distress,  to  seek  it 
out  in  all  its  haunts,  and  to  relieve  it  to  the 
leaving  of  himself  pennyless,  ever  secured  to 
him  fellow-helpers  in  any  projected  work  of 
henevolence.  And  yet,  with  his  own  bowels 
of  compassion  thus  yearning  over  human  misery 
— misery  both  of  body  and  of  mind — his  eyes 
sull'iised  with  tears,  and  his  face  beaming  with 
patriarchal  benevolence,  melting  the  hearts  of 
those  that  stood  before  him,  who  mingled  their 
tears  with  his — it  was  impossible — such  were 
the  outbreakings  of  intellect,  such  the  suddeii 
transitions  of  thought,  such  his  similes  for  illus- 
tration, such  his  peculiar  mode  of  expression, 
his  half-solemn,  half-comic,  or  undesignedly 
l'idicrous  representations — it  was  impossible  to 
suppress  the  smile ;  and  smiles  would  have 
been  actually  dickering,  like  patches  of  light, 
over  the  same  face  down  which  the  big  gushing 
tears  were  seen  chasing  each  other  in  rapid 
succession.  Before  a  few  seconds  had  elapsed, 
all  smiles  had  subsided,  and  the  listener  was 
left  almost  angry  with  himself  for  indulging  in 
them,  when  he  was  aware  that  the  speaker 
never  intended  them  to  appear  in  company  with 
tears  on  such  occasion  and  on  such  a  subject; 
and  still  larger  tears  would  start — the  auditor 
employed  in  wiping  them  away  with  his  pocket- 
handkerchief. 

In  preaching,  as  in  conversation,  he  was  never 
at  "  one  stay,"  in  reference  to  subject ;  but  ever 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  87 

and  anon  there  were  line  strokes  of  wit,  touches 
of  keen  repartee  in  his  addresses  to  sinners,  and 
occasional  beautiful  illustrations  of  Scripture, 
turning  often  upon  a  single  thought  capable  of 
furnishing  hints  for  superior  minds  and  better 
thinking,  not  only  by  being  themselves  im- 
proved in  the  laboratory  of  the  brain,  but  by 
leading  to  another  and  still  nobler  train  of 
thought,  which  might  ultimately  enrich  the  in- 
dividual, and  which — except  for  having  thus 
been  struck  out  by  Samuel,  like  a  spark  from 
his  own  anvil — would  never  have  been  elicited 
by  long  and  previous  stud)r.  In  this  way  in- 
ferior minds  often  become  steps  by  which  su- 
perior intellects  attain  a  higher  character  of 
thought.  To  the  uninstructed  and  depressed, 
his  preaching  was  especially  adapted;  and  by 
bringing  a  great  deal  of  what  was  familiar  to 
the  lower  orders  of  society  into  his  addresses, 
he  was  extensively  useful  in  encouraging  and 
raising  the  minds  of  the  humble  poor,  who  could 
indulge  with  a  relish  in  such  food  as  he  had  to 
give,  without  satiety  ;  when  more  costly  and 
highly  decorated  dishes  would  have  been  much 
less  savoury.  Not  a  few  of  his  strokes  in  the 
pulpit  were  as  sudden  as  those  which  were 
manifested  in  his  regular  calling,  when  sparks 
as  profusely  seemed  to  fly  all  around,  warming 
and  enlightening,  and  bidding  the  profanely 
heedless  stand  out  of  the  way. 

His  language  in  the  pulpit  was  the  same  as 
in  social  life — the  broadest,  and  yet,  as  has 
been  already  intimated,  most  closely  abbreviated 


88  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

West  Yorkshire  dialect ;  the  former  giving  a 
fulness  and  quaintness  to  many  of  his  intellect- 
ual clothings  ;  and  the  latter  operating,  to  em- 
ploy a  homely  simile,  like  a  pair  of  scissors  in 
the  organs  of  speech,  clipping  a  piece  from  off 
each  word,  and  not  unfrequently  from  the  same 
word  ftt  both  ends.*     This  to  a  Yorkshircman, 

*  The  writer  had  it  once  in  contemplation  to  give  the 
whole  of  Samuel's  remarks  in  the  dialect  in  which  he  spoke. 
Rut  though  this  would  have  given  greater  prominence  to  his 
character,  it  might  have  diminished  the  effect  which  it  was 
otherwise  desirable  to  produce.  Nor  is  it  necessary  for 
purposes  of  accuracy  to  give  a  man's  pronunciation  in  the 
mora*  he  employs.  Fidelitj  in  Such  a  case  would  be  as  absurd 
as  unnecessary,  since  it  would  require  every  piece  of  biogra- 
phy to  vary  according  to  its  subject,  from  the  peer  to  the 
peasant.  An  ingenious  apology  therefore  might  he  framed 
for  honest  Samuel,  from  either  Walker's  or  any  other  Pro- 
nouncimr  Dictionary,  in  w  Inch  the  eye  and  the  ear  are  almost 
perpetually  at  variance  with  each  other,  in  the  difference 
which  subsists  between  the  spelling  and  the  pronunciation  of 
the  same  word;  and  also  in  the  fluctuations  in  the  same 
language  among  the  same  people,  at  different  periods  of  time. 
A  few  words  from  the  vocabulary  of  the  deceased,  which 
the  reader  will  rind  in  a  Glossary  at  the  front  of  the  volume, 
as  exemplified  in  his  papers,  drawn  from  his  conversations, 
&c,  will  furnish  a  correct  conception  of  his  language,  and 
will  SUpport  a  remark  made  i:i  a  preceding  page.  As  the 
language  cannot  operate  as  a  reflection  against  Samuel  in 
any  other  way  than  that  in  which  the  whole  of  the  lower 
grades  in  society  in  the  wist  of  Yorkshire  are  participators ; 
and  as  the  inhabitants  of  different  portions  of  the  island  are 
not  exempt  from  conversational  peculiarities  and  provincial- 
isms, one  county  or  district  is  as  much  entitled  to  the  laugh 
as  the  other,  and  also  forbearance.  The  following  specimen 
of  the  English  language,  in  a  letter  of  Robert  waterton, to 
Kiic  Henry  V.,  1420,  dated  from  Methley,  where  the  king 
had  his  lodge,  and  where  Samuel,  some  centuries  afterward, 
moved,  conversed,  and,  in  a  frw  instances,  entrenched  on 
the  very  same  pronunciation  with  the  worthy  letter-writer, 
will  be  a  curiosity  to  some  readers  : — 

"  Os  [as]  I  have  conceyvid  by  /.our  right  honourable  lettres 


THE   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  89 

and  particularly  one  of  the  least  educated,  gave 
Samuel  an  advantage  over  many  of  his  bre- 
thren— he  always  appearing  to  such  a  one  like 
an  instrument  in  tune  :  but  to  another  than  a 
Yorkshire  car,  the  instrument  often  gave  an 
"  uncertain  sound,"  the  sense  being  to  be  ga- 
thered, not  from  detached  parts,  but  from  the 
whole ;  and  as  his  speech  was  rather  rapid,  his 
preaching,  to  persons  unacquainted  with  his 
provincialisms  and  pronunciation,  had  the  effect 
of  a  broken  English  from  the  lips  of  a  foreigner, 
where  attention  is  constantly  kept  up,  in  order 
to  come  at  the  sense  of  the  speaker,  and  where 
the  interest  continues  to  heighten  in  proportion 
as  we  are  let  into  the  meaning  of  what  is  heard. 
To  keep  perfectly  grave  through  one  of  his 
pulpit  addresses  was  extremely  difficult :  yet 
the  most  grave  found  it  impossible  to  be  angry, 

wrytin  at  zour  Cytee,  the  which  I  have  receyvid  right  late 
sylh  Pask  [Easter]  wyth  othir  zour  lettres  undir  zour  Piyve 
Seale,  charging  mc  to  assaye  by  all  the  menese  [means] 
that  I  kan  to  exyte  and  stirre  sych  as  bene  able  gcntilmen 
wythin  the  shyre  and  the  contree,  that  I  dwell  in,  to  koine 

fcome]  ovyr  to  zowc  at  zour  Wage,  armyd  and  wrayde  as 
angys  [belongs]  to  thaire  astate,  to  do  zowe  servyce,  and 
for  to  certifie  als  well  to  zowc  os  to  zour  Counsell  of  thaire 
answers  and  thaire  will,  the  whych  zour  hegh  comaundc- 
ment  I  have  bygune  to  labour  apon  and  sail  trewely  forlhe 
[lurthcr]  dayly  wyth  all  my  mvght  till  I  have  perfourmd  zour 
forsayd  comaundement.  And  upon  Wedynsdaye  next  sail 
zour  Justice  sitte  at  Zork  [York]  apon  the  deliverance  of 
the  Gaole  there  and  a  Cession  of  the  Pees  [Peace]  also,  at 
which  tyme  I  suppose  to  speke  with  many  of  the  gentyls 
there,  and  als  sone  aftyr  as  I  maye  be  answered  I  sail  cer- 
tilie  os  zowe  base  lykid  to  comaunde  me,  wyth  all  the 
haste,  &c.  Writin  at  zour  awne  logge  at  Mctbeleye  the  xii 
daye  of  Aprill  zour  trewe  leige  man  and  subgitte,  &c.' 
See  Ellis's  Original  Letters,  vol.  i,  p.  G. 


90  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

because  they  saw  at  once  there  was  no  design 
to  produce  a  smile  on  the  part  of  the  speaker, 
and  that  he  seemed  unconscious  of  its  presence 
while  there.  It  resolved  itself  into  a  peculiarity 
rather  than  a  fault — an  imperfection  in  the  me- 
dium of  communication,  rather  than  a  sin,  in 
the  first  instance,  in  the.  man  ;  and  hence  the 
line  of  forbearance — forgiveness  being  uncalled 
for — ran  parallel  with  the  failing  or  infirmity. 

To  advocate,  in  unqualified  terms  of  approba- 
tion, the  establishment  of  such  a  style  of  preach- 
ing, would  argue  as  little  taste,  judgment,  skill 
in  Christianity,  and  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture, as  it  would,  in  another  view  of  the  subject, 
have  been  criminal  to  deny  such  a  man  oppor- 
tunities of  usefulness,  since  numbers  might  have 
remained  unbenefited  to  the  same  extent  by  more 
highly  polished  instruments.  The  Divine  Being, 
who  found  a  place  in  the  Old  Testament  church 
for  the  employment  of  one  of  the  herdmen  of 
Tkkoa,  and  in  the  New,  for  a  fisherman  of 
Galilee,  and  a   tentmaker   of  Tarsus,*    has 

*  The  writer  is  aware  that  it  was  customary  for  the 
higher  ranks  in  society  among  the  Jews,  as  well  as  the  poor, 
in  teach  their  children  a  trade;  it  being  a  maxim  aiming 
them,  that  "  he  who  teaches  not  his  son  a  trade  teaches  him 
to  lie  a  thief,"  and  that  one  of  the  Jewish  rabbies  was  sur- 
nameii  the  Shoemaker,  another  the  Bakrr,  c\-c.  :  nor  is  he 
less  aware  that  it  constituted  a  part  of  the  education  of 
Others  of  the  easterns,  and  was  practised  down  to  the  time 
of  Sir  Paul  Ricaut ;  the  grand  seignior,  to  whom  he  was 
ambassador,  having  been  taught  to  make  wooden  spoons — 
taught  not  only  as  an  amusement,  hut,  as  necessary  to  sup- 
port life  under  adverse  circumstances,  on  any  unexpected 
change  of  fortune  :  and  may  be  told  from  hence,  that  the 
mechanical  arts  thus  connecting  themselves,  not  only  with 
rank,  hut  with  the  literature  of  the  times,  ought  not  to  he  ud 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  9, 

certainly  not  altered  the  constitution  of  his 
church  so  seriously  as  to  deny  the  mechanic 
an  official  situation  in  it  now  ?  He  who  divided 
public  teachers  of  old  into  different  classes,  giv- 
ing "some  apostles;  and  some  prophets;  and 
some  evangelists ;  and  some  pastors  and  teach- 
ers ;"  not  despising  the  humbler  office  of  an  ex- 
horter  ;  does  not  now  surely  find  human  nature 
in  such  a  delightfully  improved  state  as  to  ren- 
der exhortation  useless  ?  He  who  required  the 
use  of  from  one'lo  ten  talents  in  the  days  of  his 
flesh,  does  not  find  the  highest  number  multi- 
plying so  fast,  certainly,  that  he  cannot,  in  the 
order  of  his  providence,  and  in  the  government 
of  his  church,  furnish  employment  to  persons 

duced  as  a  precedent  to  support  the  modern  custom  of  grant 
ing  mechanics  a  license  to  preach  the  gospel.  There  are 
two  classes  of  objectors;  and  .hose  who  are  not  met  by  one 
example  receive  a  check  from  another.  Some  persons  con- 
tend  lor  a  systematic,' classical  education,  and  condemn  the 
smallest  interference  with  the  arts,  as  though  they  either 
lowered  the  dignity  or  contaminated  the  purity  of  the  priest- 
hood. Such  are  referred  to  the  case  of  St.  Paul,  who,  after 
bis  consecration  to  the  priest's  office,  was  not  ashamed  to 
labour  with  his  own  hands.  The  second  class  of  objectors 
include  such  as  would  tolerate  a  literary  character,  but 
persist  in  maintaining  that  the  illiterate  mechanic  has  nc 
riuht  to  assume  the  office  of  a  Christian  teacher.  These  are 
directed  to  the  case  of  Peter — Peter,  who  could  never  boast 
of  a  classical  education,  and  yet  under  the  tuition  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  could  speak  of  "  unlearned"  men  wresting  the 
Scriptures  to  their  own  destruction,  establishing  by  thai  a 
claim  to  another  kind  of  learning  from  that  which  is  taught 
in  our  public  schools — without  w  Inch  a  man  u.;  y  be  a  novice 
in  tne  things  of  God,  and  with  which,  the  unlettered  plebeian 
rises,  in  church  affairs,  superior  to  the  most  erudite  who  is 
otherwise  unschooled  in  the  experimental  verities  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  not  a  little  singular,  that  among  some  of  the  per- 
sons who  object  to  receive  instruction  from  the  lips  of  a  poor 
mechanic,  there  arc  those  who  can  see  no  impropriety  in  a 


92  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

possessed  of  only  one  or  two  ?  Such  a  ministry, 
owned  of  God  ;  and  he  has  deigned  to  own  it ; 
ought  to  be  borne  by  the  more  highly  gifted  and 
cultivated,  for  the  sake  of  the  poor,  to  thousands 
of  whom  the  preaching  of  the  Village  Black- 
smith, and  others  as  unlettered  as  himself,  has 
been  of  essential  service.  It  may  occasionally 
produce  the  blush  of  learning;  but,  in  doing 
this,  piety  at  the  same  moment  is  compelled  to 
blush  at  the  very  life  which  some  of  the  lite- 
rati lead  ;  and  thus  blushes  are  blushed  at  in 
their  turn  ;  for  what  in  the  one  is  criminal,  in 
the  other  is  an  infirmity  ;  and  to  see  such  as  in 
the  eye  of  learning  appear  halt,  and  maimed, 
and  infirm,  rise  in  arms  against  the  common 

clergyman  attending  to  his  glebe  through  the  week.  In  "  A. 
Charge  delivered  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Deaneries  of  Rich- 
mond and  C.itteriek,  within  the  Diocrss  of  Chester,  on 
Thursday,  July  4th.  1810,  by  John  Headlam,  A.  M..  Rector 
of  Wychfl'e,  and  Deputy  Commissary  of  the  Archdeaconry 
of  Richmond,"  agricultural  pursuits  are  highly  recommended 
to  the  clergy.  Since  then,  Mr.  Headlam  lias  been  elevated 
to  the  dignity  of  an  archdeacon,  and  one  of  the  clerical  agri- 
culturists in  th«-  neighbourhood  died  in  a  state  of  insolvency; 
This  ease— should  a  second  edition  of  the  Sermon  be  de- 
manded, should  lead  Mr.  Headlam  to  reconsider  the  para- 
graph in  which  the  advice  is  given.  Though  such  failure 
might  he  urged  as  a  caution  against  ministers  already  set 
apart  for  the  sacred  office  entering  into  the  business  of  the 
world,  who  possess  a  competency  of  personal  property,  or 
are  otherwise  respectably  supported  by  their  separate 
charges,  or  as  by  law  established  ;  it  could  not  be  so  suc- 
cessfully urged  againsl  men  already  engaged  in  commercial 
pursuits,  who  received  their  call  in  the  midsl  ol  such  pur 
Miiis— who,  from  various  causes,  may  be  prevented  from 
devoting  themselves  exclusively  to  the  work— who  toil  like 
Samuel  Hick,  without  salary— and  who  have  no  other  way 
of  support  mi.'  themselves  and  their  families,  but  by  manual 
or  other  labour. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  93 

enemy  of  man,  argues,  at  least,  as  in  civil  af- 
fairs, a  nobler  public  spirit ;  a  higher  degree  of 
patriotism  ;  than  is  possessed  by  persons  of  su- 
perior ability,  who  remain  inactive,  and  who 
ought  to  be  led  on  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  labour 
for  the  public  good.  The  moment  it  is  esta- 
blished as  a  truth,  that  "  God  hath"  not 
"  chosen  the  foolish,  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  wise,  and  weak  things  of  the 
world  to  confound  the  things  which  are  mighty;" 
that  very  moment  a  substantial  plea  is  instituted 
against  the  preaching  of  Samuel  Hick. 


CHAPTER  V. 

His  diligence — The  light  in  which  he  beheld  mankind — 
The  substance  of  a  conversation  held  with  Earl  Mexborough 
-  -Samuel's  circumscribed  knowledge  in  natural  history — 
His  views  of  the  Bible — Proofs  in  favour  of  the  doctrine  of 
future  rewards  and  punishments — His  visit  to  the  seat  of 
Earl  Mexborough — A  point  of  conscience — A  painting- 
Fidelity  in  reproving  sin,  at  the  hazard  of  being  injured  in 
his  trade — The  millennium  dexterously  hitched  in,  as  a 
check  to  pleasure-takers — Three  hunting  ecclesiastics  ren- 
dered the  subject  of  merriment  among  the  titled  laity — 
Ministerial  fruit  a  proof  of  the  power  of  truth,  not  of  a  call 
to  preach  it — Duty  on  saddled  horses  viewed  as  a  hardship 
—-Samuel's  more  extended  labours — Privations — Persecu- 
tions— A  poor  widow — A  conquest  over  bigotry  at  Ledsham. 

Being  now  recognised  as  a  regular  local 
preacher,  Samuel  conscientiously  attended  to 
his  various  appointments,  though  he  was  far 
from  parsimoniously  confining  himself  to  them, 
as  if  duty  proceeded  no  further  than  the  limits 


94  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

prescribed  to  him  by  his  brethren.  His  zeal 
was  not  to  be  bounded  by  the  appointments  of 
a  plan.  He  observed  his  appointments  as  he  did 
his  regular  seasons  for  private  prayer — as  duties 
to  be  performed — not  to  be  neglected  but  with 
peril — and  attended  to  with  delight ;  but  extra 
work,  was  like  a  special  season  for  retirement — 
something  out  of  the  regular  track — and  was 
enjoyed  by  him  as  children  revel  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  holyday.  In  the  Church  of  Rome  he 
would  have  had  the  credit  of  being  wealthy  in 
works  of  supererogation.  He  imitated,  on  a 
miniature  scale,  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  was  "  in  labours  more  abundant :" 
and  why  ?  He  was  in  his  Master's  work,  as 
St.  John  was  in  his  Lord's  sabbath,  "  in  the 
Spirit ;"  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  thing  itself,  too, 
he   was  always  found. 

His  zeal,  however,  as  has  already  appeared, 
was  not  a  mere  crackling  blaze  in  the  pulpit. 
His  workshop  was  his  chapel,  and  many  were 
the  homilies  which  he  delivered  over  the  anvil 
and  over  the  vice,  to  both  rich  and  poor.  In 
this  he  was  no  respecter  of  persons.  He  looked 
upon  every  human  being  as  possessed  ol  an  im- 
mortal spirit ;  depraved  by  nature  ;  redeemed 
by  Christ ;  within  the  reach  of  mercy ;  and  him- 
self as  accountable  to  God  for  the  improvement 
or  non-improvement  of  opportunities  of  useful- 
ness to  them  ;  and  hence,  to  repeat  his  own  lan- 
guage, he  "  was  always  at  them,"  because  al- 
ways yearning  over  them  in  melting  compassion 
Adverting  to  the  more  early  part  of  his  history 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  95 

he  observes,  "  At  this  time  I  feared  no  man,  but 
loved  all  ;  for  I  wanted  all  to  enjoy  what  I  felt. 
I  remember  Lord  Mexborough  calling  at  my 
shop  one  day  to  get  his  horse  shod.  The  horse 
was  a  fine  animal.  I  had  to  back  him  into  the 
smithy.  I  told  his  lordship  that  he  was  more 
highly  favoured  than  our  Saviour,  for  he  had 
only  an  ass  to  ride  on,  when  he  was  upon 
earth."  The  earl  suspecting  that  Samuel  was 
not  very  well  instructed  in  natural  history,  re- 
plied, "  In  the  country  where  our  Saviour  was 
born,  the  people  had  rarely  any  thing  but  asses 
to  ride  upon  ;  and  many  of  them  were  among 
the  finest  animals  under  heaven,  standing  from 
sixteen  to  seventeen  hands  high."  This  infor- 
mation was  new  ;  and  as  grateful  apparently 
for  the  improved  condition  of  his  divine  Master, 
as  for  an  increase  of  knowledge,  Samuel  ex- 
claimed, "  Bless  the  Lord !  I  am  glad  to  hear 
that ;  I  thought  they  were  like  the  asses  in 
our  own  country."  Samuel's  simplicity  might 
excite  a  smile  ;  but  there  were  other  biblical 
subjects,  which  gave  him  a  superiority  over 
many  of  his  more  learned  fellow  creatures. 
The  Bible  was  better  known  by  him  as  a  revela- 
tion of  God,  on  subjects  of  a  spiritual  and  ex- 
perimental nature,  than  as  an  historical  record.* 

*  It  is  stated  that  Dr.  Doddridge,  while  engaged  with  his 
Expositor,  was  in  the  habit  of  consulting  one  of  the  old 
members  of  his  church  on  those  texts  of  Scripture,  which 
contain  in  them  tin-  heights  and  depths  of  Christian  ex- 
perience— conduct  equally  complimentary  to  the  doctor's 
condescension  and  the  venerable  man's  piety.  The  doctor, 
though  a  pious  man  himself,  knew  that  experimental  religion 


96  THE   VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH. 

While  Samuel  was  engaged  with  the  horse, 
the  earl,  says  he,  "  sat  down  on  the  steady 
clog,"  and  with  great  condescension  and  fami- 
liarity, entered  into  conversation  with  him.  "  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  my  good  man,"  said  the 
noble  visitant,  "  that  you  know  something  of 
futurity.  Pray,  what  becomes  of  the  soul 
when  it  leaves  the  body  ?"  As  Samuel  had 
no  doubt  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures himself,  he  took  it  for  granted — more 
from  the  strength  of  his  own  faith,  than  pre- 
suming upon  it  out  of  courtesy,  as  St.  Paul 
might  have  done  in  the  case  of  Agrippa,  when 
there  was  no  evidence  to  the  contrary — that 
the  earl  was  also  a  believer  in  their  truth,  and 
proceeded  to  state,  that,  in  the  times  of  old, 
"  there  was  a  certain  rich  man,  which  was 
clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fared 
sumptuously  every  day — that  this  man  died 
and  was  buried — that,  though  the  body  was 
committed  to  the  dust,  the  soul  was  sent  to 
hell — that  both  would  remain  till  the  morning 
of  the  resurrection — and  that,  at  that  period, 
the  body  and  soul,  which  had  shared  in  each 
other's   wickedness,   should  also  share  in  the 

was  pngreative  in  its  character  and  operations,  and  beheld 
his  hoary  auditor  us  having  many  years  the  advance  of  him 
—  beheld  him  like  mellow  fruit  ready  to  drop  off,  or  to  he 
plucked  for  heaven.  He  was  aware  thai  he  himself  wanted 
age  and  sunning  for  seven!  passages  ;  and  although  he 
brought  all  the  experience  he  possessed  to  hear  upon  them, 
he  suspected  there  was  still  something  beyond.  To  his 
own  head,  he  required  the  advantage  at  the  old  man's  heart; 
and  united  knouiledet  and  experience  tell  upon  the  under- 
standings and  affections  of  others. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  97 

miseries  of  the  damned,  and  the  smoke  of  their 
torments  would  ascend  for  ever  and  ever : — 
that  there  was  likewise  a  poor  man  named 
Lazarus,  which  was  laid  at  the  rich  man's 
gate,  full  of  sores — that  he  died  too — that 
angels  carried  his  soul  to  Abraham's  bosom — 
that  the  soul  would  remain  there  till  the  great 
archangel's  trumpet  should  sound,  when  rich 
and  poor,  small  and  great,  should  stand  before 
God — and  that  the  soul  and  body  which  shared 
in  each  other's  sufferings  upon  earth,  would 
share  in  each  other's  joys  in  heaven."  It  never 
entered  into  Samuel's  mind  to  inquire  whether 
the  narrative  came  in  the  shape  of  a  history,  or 
of  a  parable ;  -and  neither  was  it  indeed  neces- 
sary to  his  purpose,  as  parable  is  the  represen- 
tation of  truth — truth  in  the  spirit,  though  not  in 
the  letter :  nor  had  he  any  thing  else  in  view — 
unless  it  were  that  of  making  the  subject  speak 
through  the  "rich  man"  to  his  noble  auditor — 
than  to  establish,  in  the  best  way  he  was  able, 
the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  the  doctrine  of 
future  rewards  and  punishments.  If  the  cha- 
racter before  him  had  been  such  as  to  have 
admitted  an  approach  to  the  probationary  cha- 
racter of  the  "rich  man,"  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  Samuel's  intellectual  powers  would  at  once 
have  destroyed  the  supposition  of  any  thing 
like  design  to  institute  a  parallelism  ;  and  yet, 
there  were  few  subjects — considering  his  own 
piety  and  station  in  society,  and  the  exalted 
rank  of  the  interrogator — more  calculated  to 
fix  attention,  or  that  could  better  afford  ground 
7 


98  T!IF.    VILLAGE    BLACK8M1TH. 

for  reflection  and  inference.  The  earl  re- 
marked that  he  was  of  the  same  opinion  with 
Samuel  himself  on  the  subject  of  a  future 
state,  and  wished  the  whole  world  possessed 
the  same  faith. 

Having  thus  received  a  little  encouragement, 
Samuel  proceeded  to  show  that  something  more 
was  implied  in  faith  than  a  bare  assent  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Bible  ;  and  to  guard  the  earl 
against  any  error,  gave  him  an  account  of  his 
experience,  which  was  as  artless  in  its  design 
and  detail  as  that  of  St  Paul's  was  seasonable 
in  the  presence  of  Agrippa.  In  evidence  that 
it  was  taken  in  good  feeling,  "  he  stopped," 
says  Samuel,  "  till  I  related  it,  and  gave  me  half- 
a-crown  for  preaching  this  short  sermon  to  him." 
Not  long  after  this,  he  was  planned  to  preach 
;it  Methley,  and  had  some  of  the  servants  of  the 
same  nobleman  for  his  hearers,  to  one  of  whom 
— a  female — he  was  uncle.  Partly  out  of  respect 
to  Samuel,  and  partly  to  his  niece,  the  servants 
united  in  inviting  him  to  spend  the  evening 
with  them  at  the  Hall.  But  before  he  could  com- 
ply with  the  request,  he  had  a  piece  of  casuistry 
to  settle  with  his  own  conscience.  The  Earl 
and  the  family  were  in  the  metropolis,  and  ho 
could  not  conceive  how  he  could  live  at  tho 
noble  proprietor's  expense,  without  his  consent, 
and  remain  guiltless.  This  point  was  soon 
disposed  of,  by  the  servants  informing  him,  that, 
during  the  absence  of  the  family,  they  were 
"  living  at  board  wages."  "  When  I  knew  that 
tboy  could  keep  me  at  their  own  expense,"  ho 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSJIlTn.  99 

observes,  "  I  went  with  them,  and  stopped  all 
night."  This  was  one  of  those  punctilious 
movements  in  social  life,  which  would  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  multitudes,  but  upon 
which  the  eye  of  an  enlightened  conscience — 
the  guardian  of  property — instantly  Hashed,  and 
through  which  the  Christian  was  commanded 
to  pause  and  inquire  before  he  advanced.  In 
the  course  of  the  next  morning  Samuel  was 
shown  through  the  rooms  ;  but  of  all  that  he 
saw,  not  any  thing  attracted  his  attention  or 
made  an  impression  equal  to  a  painting  of  Joseph 
and  Mary,  the  latter  of  whom  was  placed  upon 
an  ass,  with  the  infant  Jesus.  He  instantly 
recollected  his  conversation  with  the  noble 
owner  of  the  mansion,  and  knowing  little  of 
books,  very  innocently,  and  not  unnaturally  for 
a  person  of  his  cultivation,  considered  this 
painting  as  the  source  from  whence  the  earl 
derived  his  knowledge.  "  It  was  one  of  the 
finest  creatures,"  says  he,  "  I  ever  saw  ;  and  I 
thought  my  lord  got  his  information  from  it." 
Then,  instead  of  indulging  in  what  was  passing 
before  the  eye,  he  breaks  away  in  a  tangent, 
and  shows  where  his  heart  is,  by  adding  in  the 
next  sentence,  "  I  am  informed  that  his  lord- 
ship has  family  prayer,  morning  and  evening;* 

*  This  nobleman  died  in  the  course  of  last  winter,  (18,)0,) 
nnd  was  succeeded  in  his  titles  and  in  his  estates  by  his 
son,  Lord  I'ollington.  It  was  to  Earl  Mexborough  that  the 
village  of  Thorner,  in  which  the  late  Rev.  John  Pawson  was 
born  and  is  buried,  belonged  :  and  his  kindness  and  benevo- 
lence as  a  master  and  a  landlord  were  not  the  only  excel- 
lences for  which  he  was  beloved,  and  for  which  he  is  still 
had  in  remembrance. 


100  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

and  T  fully  believe,  that  if  Christians  of  all  de- 
nominations were  faithful  to  the  grace  given, 
both  rich  and  poor  would  be  saved.  1  am 
privileged  with  getting  into  the  company  of 
gentlemen,  and  I  never  let  these  opportunities 
slip.  I  consider  it  a  privilege  to  speak  a  word 
for  my  Master,  whom  I  so  dearly  love." 

It  will  be  easy  to  perceive,  that  his  associa- 
tion with  persons  of  distinguished  rank  only 
extended  to  transactions  in  business,  and  that 
not  any  thing  more  than  this  is  intended  by 
himself;  a  circumstance  which  tends  not  a 
little  to  elevate  his  piety  above  all  earthly  con- 
siderations, as  many  in  a  similar  situation  to 
himself  would  have  shrunk  from  the  discharge 
of  what,  appeared  to  him  to  be  a  Christian  duty, 
from  a  dread  of  suffering  in  business  by  giving 
offence  to  their  employers.  An  instance  of  his 
fidelity  in  this  respect — and  by  no  means  a  so- 
litary one — was  exemplified  in  his  conduct  to- 
ward Mr.  Wh — t — n,*  whose  horse  had  lost  a 
shoe  in  the  heat  of  the  chase.  Having  had 
the  horse  in  the  hands  of  another  blacksmith 
only  the  day  before,  and  being  interrupted  in 
his  enjoyments,  he  swore  at  the  man  for  having, 
as  he  supposed,  put  on  the  shoe  so  carelessly. 
Samuel  turned  to  the  scmire,  and  without 
further  ceremony,  told  him,  that   he  paid   the 

*  The  willow  ninl  family  <>f  this  gentleman  resided  at 
Aberford.  Speaking  of  tin-  hdy,  "  Samuel,"  says  Mr. 
Dawson  "  stood  very  high  in  her  estimation.  He  liad  full 
liberty  to  inform  her  of  any  ease  of  distress  which  came 
under  his  observation ;  and  on  information  being  given,  ho 
was  frequently  made  her  almoner." 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  101 

rent  of  the  shop — that  while  it  was  in  his  hand 
he  would  not  suffer  any  man  to  take  the  name 
of  God  in  vain  within  its  walls — and  that  if  he 
persisted  in  swearing,  he  would  not  set  the 
shoe  on.  He  availed  himself  of  the  gentle- 
man's anxiety  to  return  to  the  field,  and  the 
gentleman  knowing  that  his  enjoyment  de- 
pended solely  on  his  attention  to  the  prohibition 
which  had  just  been  issued,  very  prudently  de- 
sisted. The  compassion  of  Samuel  was  excited 
both  for  the  horse  and  for  the  rider.  "  The 
poor  animal,"  says  he,  "  could  scarcely  stand 
till  I  set  the  shoe  on;  and  while  I  was  shoeing 
him,  I  began  to  preach,  and  said,  '  It  is  a  pity, 
sir,  that  these  good  creatures  should  ever  be 
abused.' "  Mr.  \V\,  passing  over  the  rebuke  he 
had  received  for  swearing,  and  finding,  as  he 
believed,  the  ground  on  which  he  stood  as  a 
hunter,  somewhat  more  tenable  than  that  on 
which  he  stood  as  a  swearer,  replied,  "  The 
dogs  were  made  on  purpose  to  hunt  the  fox, 
ami  the  horse  to  follow  the  dogs."  "  God," 
said  Samuel,  who  felt  that  the  honour  of  his 
Maker  was  interested,  "  God  was  never  the 
author  of  sin.  He  sent  these  creatures  for  the 
use  of  man,  not  to  be  abused  by  him.  But  the 
time  will  come,  sir,  when  the  hounds  will  not 
run  after  the  foxes."  Mr.  W  ,  either  not  ap- 
prehending his  meaning,  or  disposed  to  amuse 
himself  with  the  reply,  asked, "  Do  you  really 
think  that  such  a  time  will  ever  arrive  ?"  "  Yes, 
sir,"  returned  Samuel:  "it  will  come,  as  sure 
as  God  made  the  world  ;  for  he  has  prophesied 


J03  THE    VILLAGE     BLACKSMITH. 

that  the  lion  shall  lie  down  with  the  lamb,  and 
thai  all  flesh  shall  know  him,  from  the  least  to 
the  greatest.''  The  shoe  having  been  replaced, 
a  period  was  put  to  the  conversation,  when 
Mr.  W.  very  pleasantly  tendered  him  some 
silver,  which  he  refused  to  accept,  Baying,  "I 
only  charge  a  poor  man  twopence,  and  I  shall 
charge  you,  sir,  no  more."  The  difference 
which  Samuel  observed  between  Earl  Mex- 
borough  and  Mr.  W. — having  accepted  silver 
from  (lie  former  for  a  similar  office,  and  declined 
receiving  it  from  the  latter — shows  the  acute- 
ness  and  discrimination  occasionally  manifested 
by  him.  "  Did  he,"  said  Samuel  to  the  biogra- 
pher, some  years  after,  when  relating  the  cir- 
cumstance in  reference  to  Mr.  W.,  "  Did  he 
think  that  I  was  going  to  give  up  my  chance 
at  him  for  half-a-crown  ?" — thus  renouncing 
every  thing  which  in  his  estimation  was  cal- 
culated to  deprive  him  of  the  privilege  of  free- 
dom of  remark,  and  rebuke — though  un- 
doubtedly erroneous  in  the  supposition,  that 
Mr.  W.  had  any  need  to  have  recourse  to  the 
gift  as  a  bribe.  Mr.  W.  soon  remounted,  and 
set.  off  to  pursue  the  chase.  On  his  return,  he 
pointed  Samuel  out  to  the  party  that  accom- 
panied him,  as  he  passed  the  shop,  and  enter- 
tained  them  with  his  notions  of  the  Millennium. 
A  few  days  after  Mr.  W.  on  again  passing  the 
shop  on  his  way  to  the  field,  endeavoured  to 
divert  himself  at  Samuel's  expense,  by  asking 
with  some  degree  of  pleasantry,  "  Well,  do 
you  think  the  dogs  will  run  the  foxes  to-day  ?" 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  703 

u  O  yes,  sir,"  replied  Samuel,  with  unexpected 
smartness,  "  the  Jews  are  not  brought  in  yet." 
Mr.  W.  seemed  to  have  possessed  as  much 
millennial  knowledge  as  enabled  him  to  com- 
prehend Samuel's  meaning,  and  rode  off  like  a 
person  who  had  been  shot  at  by  the  archers. 

He  was  pretty  generally  known  by  the 
sportsmen  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  few  of 
them,  though  partly  dependant  upon  them  for 
employment,  remained  unreproved  by  him. 
earl  C— th — t  was  one,  among  others,  who 
had  felt  the  force  of  some  of  his  sayings,  and 
who  enjoyed  their  effects  upon  others.  The 
earl  had  an  opportunity  of  this  kind  furnished, 
when  several  gentlemen  were  waiting  one 
morning  for  the  hounds.  "  They  met  anent 
(opposite)  my  shop,"  says  Samuel,  "  and  stop- 
ped till  the  hounds  came."  Among  the  party 
were  the  Hon.  C.  C — ,  vicar  of  K — ,  the  earl's 
brother ;  the  Rev.  W — ,  rector  of  G — ;  the 
late  Rev.  C — ,  vicar  of  A —  ;  and  Dr.  E — ,  who 
followed  the  medical  profession  at  K — .  "  It 
came  into  my  mind,"  continues  Samuel,  "  that 
the  three  clergymen  had  no  business  there."  His 
movements  generally  corresponding  with  the 
rapidity  of  his  thoughts,  he  instantly  "  threw 
down  the  hammer  and  the  tongs,"  darted  out 
of  the  shop  door,  like  an  animal  from  a  thicket 
of  underwood,  and  appeared  in  the  midst  of 
them  with  his  shirt  sleeves  turned  up,  his  apron 
on,  his  face  and  hands  partaking  of  the  hue  of 
his  employment — as  fine  game,  in  the  estima- 


104  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

tion  of  some  of  them,  to  occupy  the  lingering 
moments,  till  other  game  should  be  started,  as 
any  that  could  present  itself  in  human  shape. 
"  Most  of  them,"  says  he,  "  knew  me.  I  said 
to  them,  Gentlemen,  this  is  one  of  the  finest 
hunts  in  the  district.  You  are  favoured  with 
two  particular  privileges  ;  and  they  are  privi- 
leges which  other  districts  have  not."  This 
excited  curiosity,  which  was  as  quickly  grati- 
fied ;  for  the  inquiry  relative  to  "  privileges" 
was  no  sooner  proposed,  than  the  answer  was 
given — "  If  any  of  you  should  happen  to  slip 
the  saddle,  and  get  a  fall,  you  have  a  doctor  to 
bleed  you,  and  three  parsons  to  pray  for  you  : 
and  what  are  these  but  privileges  ?  Three 
parsons  !  O  yes,  there  they  are."*  The  odd 
association  produced  in  the  minds  of  some  of 

*  The  three  reverend  gentlemen  were  not  equally  impli- 
cated in  an  adherence  to  the  chase.  With  one — the  first — 
it  had  become  a  passion;  and  though  possessed  of  other 
good  qualities,  especially  benevolence  to  the  poor,  yet  so 
much  did  the  turf  engross  his  .attention  that  he  thought  very 
little  of  setting  off  for  Doncastor  and  Pontefract  races  after 
service  was  over  on  a  Sunday.  The  second  was  not  re- 
markable for  following  the  fox-hounds,  and  is  supposed  to 
have  proceeded  little  further  than  that  of  attending  to  see 
them  "  throw-  off."  Greyhound  coursing  was  less  objection- 
able, as  being  less  hazardous.  The  third,  the  late  Mr.  C, 
like  the  first,  was  a  genuine  lover  of  the  sports  of  the  fie.d. 
lie  received, however,  what  would  have  been  sufficient  as  a 
rebuke  tor  otherJ,  before  he  left  the  world  to  give  an  account 
o!  his  apostleship.  On  a  shooting  excursion,  his  dogs,  as 
usual — having  been  well  trained — set  some  partridges;  the 
birds  started,  and  (lew  pver  a  hedge,  behind  which  his 
servant  was  Standing  ;  he  fired  : — whether  or  not  he  winged 
a  bird,  is  jiot  for  the  writer  to  slate,  but  it  is  well  known 
that  he  killed  his  servant 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  105 

the  gentlemen,  between  hunting  and  devotion — 
the  huntsman's  shout  anil  the  clergyman's 
prayer,  the  inconsistency  of  which  not  a  few 
had  light  sufficient  to  perceive,  and  of  which, 
by  the  way,  we  are  furnished  with  a  somewhat 
similar  ridiculous  appearance  in  some  of  our 
cathedrals  and  churches,  where  some  of  the 
ancient  knights — not  very  remarkable  for  prayer 
during  life — are  represented  as  praying  in 
marble,  booted  and  spurred,  clad  in  armour, 
with  uplifted  hands,  about  to  rise  to  the  victor's 
heaven,  of  which — abstractedly  considered — 
the  Bible  knows  as  much  as  that  of  the  hunter's 
— this  odd  association  operated  powerfully  upon 
the  risible  faculties,  and  turned  the  laugh  upon 
the  clergymen,  who,  in  the  language  of  Samuel. 
"  lowered  their  heads,  and  never  spoke  a  word 
in  their  own  defence,"  though  forward  enough 
at  other  times,  and  with  open  front  too,  to  con- 
demn him  for  occupying  any  share  of  the  priest's 
office.  But  right  and  truth  give  one  man  an 
amazing  advantage  over  another ;  guilt  stands 
abashed  in  the  presence  of  innocence  ;  a  child, 
under  peculiar  circumstances,  becomes  a  Her- 
cules, and  wields  truth — though  in  irony — like 
Elijah,  with  all  the  power  of  the  imaginary 
deity's  club.  Towards  one  of  the  divines 
Samuel  experienced  an  unusual  leaning  of 
spirit ;  for  he  states,  that  it  was  "  under  Mr. 
C — ,  of  A — ,  that"  his  "  dear  mother  was  con- 
verted to  God  in  A — b — d  church.  The  word 
preached,"  he  proceeds,  "  proved  the  power  of 
God  to  hor  soul's  salvation.     She  died  happy 


106  THE    VILLAGE    BfcA.CK SMITH. 

in  God.     I  do  not  know  that  she  ever  heard  a 
Methodist  sermon  in  her  life."* 

A  nobleman  who  occasionally  courted  re- 
mark from  Samuel,  and  who  was  more  disposed 
to  tease  than  to  injure  him,  having  told  him  that 
he  ought  to  be  surcharged  for  placing  a  saddle 
on  his  cart-horse  on  the  Lord's  day;  he  imme- 
diately threw  back  upon  his  noble  implicator 
the  mischiefs  of  the  chase  ;  stating,  that  there 
would  be  a  greater  propriety  in  surcharging  his 
lordship  himself  for  breaking  down  the  hedges 

*  To  argue  from  hence,  lhat  a  Christian  minister  is  at 
liberty  to  pursue  what  line  of  conduct  he  pleases,  because 
the  Divine  Being  may  vouchsafe  to  honour  his  ministry 
with  success,  as  though  he  thereby  sanctioned  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  man,  would  be  absurd.  Truth,  and  the  medium 
of  its  conveyance,  are  two  distinct  things — as  much  so  as 
the  tenter  and  the  conduit  through  which  it  passes;  nor  are 
any  of  the  cleansing  effects  or  refreshing  qualities  of  the 
water  to  be  attributed  to  the  instrument  of  Communication, 
as  any  other  medium  of  conveyance,  whether  of  wood,  lead, 
or  silver,  would  have  equally  served  the  purpose,  and  the 
effects  had  been  produced  as  easily  without  as  with  the  one 
employed.  This  may  be  carried  even  a  little  further;  for  it 
would  be  no  difficult  matter  to  prove,  that  ministerial  fruit  is 
not  an  exclusive  proof  of  a  call  to  the  ministry.  Open  this 
door,  and  the  greatest  latitude  is  given  to  female  preaching. 
Fruit — independent  of  other  evidence — is  only  a  proof  of  tho 
power  of  truth — not  a  cell  to  preach  it.  Truth  belongs  to 
God,  and  he  will  honour  his  own  truth  whoever  may  be  the 
instrument  employed  to  deliver  it.  Should  the  instrument 
himself  be  unconverted,  he  will  receive  the  honour  which  the 
scaffolding  receives  from  the  builder',  when  it  has  served  his 
purpose,  m  contributing  its  share  to  the  completion  of  the 
erection— be  thrown  aside  as  constituting  no  part  of  the 
goodly  edifice.  This  is  nol  intended  to  apply  to  the  clergy- 
man in  question,  however  much  oul  of  place  in  the  field,  but 
to  protect  the  simple-hearted  from  deducing  false  inferences 
from  apparently  legitimate,  but,  in  point  of  fnbt,  otherwise 
false  premises. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  107 

of  the  farmer,  than  that  he  should  be  surcharged 
for  saddling  his  horse,  riding  peaceably  along 
the  king's  highway,  and  going  about  doing  good 
by  preaching  the  gospel.  The  law  of  the  case 
was  not  what  occurred  to  Samuel  :  he  looked 
at  it  with  the  eyes  of  a  Christian,  without  con- 
necting with  it  for  the  moment,  the  relation  in 
which  he  stood  to  the  British  Constitution  as  a 
subject ;  and  although  he  would  have  yielded  to 
no  man  in  point  of  loyalty,  and  no  man  was 
more  ready  to  pay  the  taxes  imposed  upon  by 
government  than  himself;  yet  this  was  a  case, 
like  many  others,  of  which  he  could  only  see 
one  bearing  ;  and  that  was  a  bearing  of  hardship. 
The  naked  principles  of  good  and  evil  arranged 
themselves  on  opposite  sides,  and  so  completely 
was  his  mind  absorbed  with  these,  that  all  the 
reasoning  that  could  have  been  employed,  would 
never  have  made  the  subject  appear  otherwise 
than  as  unreasonable  to  him — that  one  man 
should  be  permitted  to  do  evil,  and  that  another, 
from  the  purest  motives,  at  his  own  cost,  and 
with  his  own  horse,  should  not  be  permitted  to 
proceed  in  his  own  way  to  do  good,  without  an 
extra  charge.  To  have  suggested  that  his  lord- 
ship had  to  pay  for  his  pleasure,  by  a  tax  upon 
both  his  dogs*  and  horses,  would  not  have  re- 

*  It  would  have  been  a  little  amusing  to  have  witnessed 
Samuel's  feelings,  and  heard  his  remarks  on  the  following 
items  occasioned  by  British  devotion  to  nous.  In  a  parlia- 
mentary paper,  ordered  to  he  printed,  it  appears  that  the 
total  number  of  dogs  of  different  descriptions  (exclusive  of 
packs  of  hounds)  upon  which  duty  was  paid  in  the  United 
Kingdom,    during  the   year  ending    5th  April,    1829,    uas 


108  THi:    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

moved  the  impression  of  hardship  from  the 
mind  of  Samuel.  His  logic  was  simple  and 
untrammelled  by  legal  subtleties.  His  replv 
would  have  been,  that  his  lordship  had  no  right 
to  do  evil,  though  he  paid  for  it — that  creation 
belonged  to  his  divine  Master — that  man  was 
in  misery — that  he  himself,  as  a  servant  of  the 
Most  High,  was  commanded  to  do  good  unto 
all  men — and  that,  to  the  performance  of  acts 
of  mercy,  not  only  should  "  every  let  or  hin- 
derance"  be  removed  out  of  the  way,  but  every 
person  should  contribute  to  the  furtherance  of 
such  work — forgetting  that  if  all  were  contri- 
butors, there  would  be  an  end  to  receivers — and 
that  in  forming  laws  for  the  multitude,  it  was 
impossible  so  to  construct  them  as  not,  in  certain 
cases  and  under  certain  circumstances,  to  bear 
hard  upon  a  few  individuals.  If  any  class  of 
men  had  a  right  to  institute  a  claim  to  exemption 
from  such  a  tax,  it  was  such  men  as  Samuel 
Hick;  ami  had  our  legislators  deemed  exemption 
prudent,  there  is  no  doubt  that  to  such  men  it 
would  have  been  extended. 

Many  of  the  circuits  continued  very  exten- 
sive long  after  Samuel  was  admitted  on  the  local 
preachers'  plan,  and    such    were    his  "  outgo- 

351,058.  The  amount  of  duty  paid  upon  them  was  187,581/. 
The  packfl  ol  hounds  upon  which  duty  was  paid  amounted 
i"  69 :  the  duty  on  each  being  36/,  the  sum  total  amounted 
to  2,484/.  The  duty  paid  upon  dogs  within  the  bills  of  mor- 
tality was  15,307/.— To  have  given  a  rough  calculation  of 
not  only  ilie  tax  upon  hounds  and  horses,  bul  the  expenses 
of  purchase,  keep,  keepers,  &c,  Samuel  would  have  pitied 
the  man  who  could  spend  so  much  upon  so  little. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  109 

ings,"  occasioned  by  the  ardour  of  his  zeal, 
that  a  horse  became  absolutely  necessary,  in 
order  to  enable  him  to  accomplish  his  "  labours 
of  love."  As  an  exemplification  of  part  of  his 
toil  and  of  his  treatment,  he  observes,  "  In 
those  days  there  were  not  many  noble,  not 
many  rich  called.  For  my  own  part,  I  have 
travelled  many  scores  of  miles,  and  neither 
tasted  meat  nor  drink  till  I  got  home  [in  the 
evening.]  I  have  very  often  had  snowballs 
thrown  at  me,  and  been  abused  by  the  enemies 
of  the  cross  of  Christ :  I  have  been  turned  out 
of  places  where  I  have  been  preaching,  by  the 
clergy  and  the  magistrates  :  but,  bless  the  Lord, 
I  have  lived  to  see  better  days."  After  noticing 
the  cessation  of  persecution,  he  again,  by  a 
sudden  transition  of  thought,  turns  to  his  favourite 
subject — the  grand  Millennium,  which  appears 
like  a  vision  breaking  upon  his  "gifted  sight," 
and  "  more  golden  bright  than  the  rich  morn  on 
Carmel" — in  a  vision  often  repeated,  in  which 
there  was  to  him,  in  the  language  of  the  poet, 
"  a  mingling  of  all  glorious  forms" — of  "  angels 
riding  upon  cloudy  thrones,  and  saints  marching 
all  abroad  like  crowned  conquerors  :"  nor  had 
the  fair  poetical  Jewess,  so  finely  portrayed  by 
Milman,  in  his  "  Fall  of  Jerusalem,"  more  de- 
lightful visions,  when  "  nightly  visitations" 
poured  over  her  mind,  "  like  the  restless  waters 
of  some  pure  cataract  in  the  noontide  sun,"  than 
had  Samuel  Hick  of  "  the  latter-day  glory," 
toward  which  he  was  constantly  turning,  like 
the  sun-flower,  toward  the  orb  of  day,   and  in 


J  10  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  splendours  of  which  he  was  constantly  bask- 
ing and  brightening. 

Whatever  might  have  been  the  "length  of  the 
journey,  and  whatever  the  fare  with  which  he 
was  treated,  the  spirit  of  Samuel  remained  un- 
broken, his  gratitude  unabated.  He  had  bread 
to  eat  of  which  the  world  had  no  knowledge  ; 
the  religion  of  the  soul  appeared  to  bear  up  the 
animal  frame,  and  to  render  it  frequently  insen- 
sible to  pain,  and  want,  and  toil.  The  hut 
afforded  him  higher  entertainment  than  the 
dwellings  of  the  wealthy.  The  following  re- 
lation furnishes  an  insight  into  his  spirit.  "  I 
remember,"  says  he,  "  I  was  planned  to  preach 
at  Hemsworth*  once,  and  bein^  a  stranger  in 
the  town,  I  inquired  where  the  Methodist 
preachers  put  up  their  horses.  I  was  informed 
that  there  was  not  any  body  in  the  place  that 
would  take  them  in ;  but  that  a  poor  man  re- 
ceived them  at  the  common  side.  I  went  to 
my  inn,  and  found  a  place  to  put  up  my  horse, 
which  they  had  built  on  purpose  for  the  preachers' 
horses.  When  I  got  into  the  house,  I  soon 
found  that  the  poor  people  had  Jesus  Christ  with 
them.  They  were  glad  to  see  me,  and  to  re- 
ceive both  me  and  my  horse.  These  dear 
friends  had  a  great  many  enemies,  because  of 
their  taking  in    the   preachers.     The    people 

*  In  1811  anil  1812,  when  the  writer  was  in  the  habit  of 
visiting  the  village,  in  which  there  was  then  a  neat  Wesleyaa 
chapel,  it  w.is  in  I  he  Barnsley  circuit.  At  the  period  re- 
ferred to  by  Samuel,  it  was  probably  connected  with  Leeds 
Wakefield,  or  Pontefract.  It  is  about  six  miles  from  Pon 
teftact,  and  fifteen  from  Micklefield. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  Ill 

who  had  supplied  them  with  milk  refused  to 
let  them  have  any  more  ;  and  the  publicans 
would  not  let  them  have  yeast  for  their  bread. 
They  were  also  in  a  strait  for  food  for  the 
preachers'  horses.  The  poor  woman  begged  a 
few  land  ends  of  grass,  got  it  dried,  and  pre- 
served it ;  and  she  gleaned  a  little  corn  in  the 
fields.  She  made  us  very  comfortable.  Some 
time  after  this,  I  was  again  planned  for  the 
same  place.  The  Lord  had  opened  the  hearts 
of  some  of  the  farmers,  and  they  opened  their 
houses ;  but  I  went  to  my  old  inn  at  the  com- 
mon side.  The  woman  cried  for  joy  to  see  me. 
She  said  she  was  sorely  troubled,  because  the 
preachers  had  left  her  house  :  but  I  told  her  not 
to  be  troubled  about  it — that  she  would  get  her 
reward  for  her  labour  of  love.  I  went  to  the 
same  place  about  thirty  years  after  this,  and 
found  the  same  widow.  She  was  very  happy 
in  her  soul.  We  see  that  the  Lord  is  as  good 
as  his  promise,  '  Them  that  honour  me  I  will 
honour' — '  With  long  life  will  I  satisfy'  them, 
'  and  show'  them  '  my  salvation.'  She  was 
very  glad  to  see  me  ;  and  I  told  her  that  I  would 
put  her  into  my  life  for  a  memorial  of  her  love 
to  the  preachers  and  their  beasts.  It  was  like 
the  widow's  mite." 

The  simplicity  of  the  man  is  at  jnco  seen,  in 
telling  the  aged  matron  that  she  should  occupy 
a  place  in  the  memoir  of  his  life ;  and  that  he 
intended  nothing  more  in  what  he  termed  his 
"  Life,"  than  to  show  forth  the  goodness  of  God 
to  himself  and  others,  will  readily  be  crcd'tcd  ■ 


112      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

nor  shall  his  innocent  intentions,  though  border- 
ing upon  the  childishness  of  simplicity,  in  re- 
ference to  the  poor  widow,  cease  to  he  fulfilled 
to  the  very  letter.     "Ruth  the  Moabitess"  did 
not  cleave  closer  to  "  God"  and  his  "  people" 
than  did  this  poor  woman  ;  nor  did  the  young 
widow  appear  more  interesting  to  Boaz  among 
the  "  reapers,"  than  did  this  gleaner  in  the  corn- 
fields to  Samuel  Hick.     He,  however,  in  con- 
soling her  for  the  loss  of  the  preachers,  seemed 
to  be  unaware    that  he    was   furnishing  a  sub- 
stantial reason,  in    his  notice  of  some  of  the 
farmers    having  "opened    their   houses,"   why 
they  should  take  up  their  abode  elsewhere  ;  a 
point  upon  which   many  would  have  fastened, 
and    would  from  thence   have   argued  the  pro- 
priety of   relieving    her   of  a  burden — though 
deemed  by  her  a  privation — which  she  had  so 
long  and  so    nobly  borne,  and   which   others, 
now  made  willing  in  the  day  of  gospel  power, 
were  equally  ready,    and    much    more  able  to 
bear  than  herself.    For  complimentary  as  it  had 
been  for  a  poor  widow,  like  her  of  Zarephath, 
whose   "cake"    and    "cruse"  never    failed,   to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  prophets  of  the  Lord, 
it  would  have  reflected  little  honour  on  the  more 
wealthy  to  have  looked    on  with  a  stupid    in- 
difference,   and     to    have    permitted    its    con- 
tinuance.     Some  of  the  very  first  expressions 
uttered  by  the  new-born  soul  are,   "  What  shall 
we   do  ?"     These    are   the    mere   nursery  ex- 
pressions of  the  babe,  in  reference  to  the  cause 
of  God.     Some  persons,  it  is   true — not  very 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMiTIV.  113 

remarkable  for  self-denial,  or  turning  the  good 
things  of  this  life  aside  when  within  their 
reach — would  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  of  exuding  a  little  bad  feeling,  by 
insinuating  that  the  preachers  were  always  on 
the  alert  to  better  their  condition.  But  the  very 
fact  of  their  having  stooped  so  long  to  lodge  in 
the  hovel,  of  their  readiness  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  any  fare,  however  scanty,  and 
to  any  situation,  however  humble,  while  labour- 
ing to  promote  the  happiness  of  their  fellow- 
creatures,  shows  that  they  carried  about  with 
them  the  spirit  of  self-denial,  and  have  it  yet  at 
hand  whenever  Providence  opens  the  door  and 
bids  them  enter :  and  the  wailmgs  of  the  widow 
for  their  loss  are  evidence  of  their  worth  ;  for, 
having  been  cheered  by  their  presence,  their 
advice,  and  their  prayers,  on  the  social  hearth- 
stone, she  sighed  and  wept  at  their  removal ; 
and  sighed  the  more,  as  she  valued  their 
society. 

vSamuel  took  his  own  way  of  consoling  her, 
and  directed  her  attention  to  the  "  recompense 
of  reward"  for  what  she  had  done.  And  it  was 
here,  both  as  to  subject  and  place,  that  he  was 
in  his  element.  To  behold  him  thus,  in  one  of 
his  happiest  moods,  the  reader  has  only  to 
sketch  a  thatched  cottage,  tottering,  like  its  in- 
mate, with  age  ;  its  whitewashed  walls  and  mud 
floor  ;  a  few  homely  pieces  of  furniture,  impaired 
by  long-continued  use  ;  Samuel  himself  seated 
upon  the  remains  of  an  old  oaken  chair,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  fire  to  the  good  old  woman  ; 
8 


114      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

there  talking  of  the  joys  of  the  heaven  to  which 
they  were  bolh  hastening,  throwing  a  beam  of 
sunshine  into  the    heart  of  her  with  whom  he 
conversed,  and  which  seemed  dead  within  her, 
till  he  stirred  it  into  life.     Now  he   crouched 
forward,  with  the    crown   of  his  head  toward 
the  fire — his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  ground — his 
elbows  occasionally  supported  by  his  knees — 
the  palms  of  his   hands    turned   upward — his 
thumbs  and  fore-fingers  in  constant  motion,  as 
though  he  were  in  the  act  of  rubbing  some  fine 
powder  between  them,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
quality  ;  or  like  some  of  our  elderly  matrons  at 
the  distaff,  twisting  the  fibres  of  the  flax  into  a 
thread — dropping  for  a  moment  the  conversa- 
tion— next  chiming    in   with    a   few   notes  of 
praise — again  taking  up  the  theme  of  Christ  and 
future     glory — his    face    meanwhile    glistening 
through  the   rising   emotions   of  his  soul — his 
hands    now  gliding    into    quicker    action — the 
fountains  of  the  beating  heart  breaking  up — till 
at    length,  elevating  his   frame,  and    with   his 
eyes  brimming  with  tears,  he  seems  to  throw, 
by  a  single  glance,  all  the  tenderness  of  his  soul 
into  the  bosom  of  the  object  of  his  solicitude, 
which  at  once  softens,  animates,  and  transfixes 
the  eye  of  the  beholder  in  grateful  return  upon 
himself  for  the  conversational  benefits  thus  con- 
ferred. 

One  of  the  cases  to  which  Samuel  refers, 
when  he  states  he  had  been  "  turned  out  of 
places  by  the  clergy,"  occurred  in  his  own 
neighbourhood.     On  the    death  of  Lady  Betty 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  115 

Hastings,  and  the  termination  of  the  Rev.  W. 
Sellon's  labours  at  Ledsham,  the  living  was 
given  to  a  young  clergyman,  in  a  delicate  state 
of  health,  who  came  from  London  to  take  pos- 
session, and  who,  in  his  first  sermon,  made  a 
warm  attack  upon  enthusiasm,  and  denied  the 
influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  stating,  that  there 
had  been  no  such  thing  as  inspiration  in  the 
world  since  the  apostolic  age.  To  this  he 
might  have  been  led,  from  a  persuasion  that 
the  people  had  been  deluded  into  the  belief  of 
such  things  through  the  mistaken  piety,  as  he 
supposed,  of  her  ladyship,  and  the  preaching 
of  his  predecessors.  But  while  thus  proclaim- 
ing his  own  nakedness  of  soul,  of  every  hal- 
lowed influence,  the  poor  people,  "  clothed 
with  the  Spirit  of  holiness,"  were  better  in- 
structed, and  instead  of  being  satisfied  with  this 
collegian,  sent  for  the  "  Village  Blacksmith," 
to    build    them    up    in    the    faith    of   Christ.* 

*  The  people's  choice,  in  this  case,  must  remind  those 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  Mr.  Baxter's  account, 
in  the  Preface  to  his  Disputations,  pp.  18ti-7,  of  !he  election 
of  Alexander.  When  Gregory  conferred  with  the  church 
respecting  the  choice  of  a  pastor,  several  of  the  people  were 
for  having  a  man  of  ranli  and  splendid  abilities;  but  re 
collecting  that  the  prophet  anointed  David,  a  shepherd,  to  he 
king  over  Israel,  he  requested  them  to  look  among  the  lower 
orders  of  society,  and  to  see  whether  a  person  could  not  he 
found,  possessed  of  piety  and  ministerial  qualifications. 
This  was  received  with  indignation  by  several  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Comana ;  and  one  lofty-spirited  gentleman, 
whose  views  as  little  accorded  with  those  of  Gregory  as 
they  would  have  done  with  those  of  the  little  Christian  Hock 
at  Ledsham,  in  after  ages,  told  the  worthy  bishop,  byway  of 
derision,  that  if  he  wished  I  hem  to  take  a  person  from  the 
scum  ol  thepeopTe,  tiny  might  as  well  select  Alexander ths 


116  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

Samuel  yielded  to  their  entreaties ;  but  found 
it  difficult  to  obtain  a  house  to  preach  in,  as 
nearly  every  house  was  under  clerical  in- 
fluence, and  those  who  sent  for  him  were  afraid 
of  incurring  the  clergyman's  displeasure.  A 
good  woman  at  length  obtained  the  consent  of 
her  husband  to  lend  their  house  for  the  occasion, 
indifferent  to  consequences.  A  congregation 
was  soon  assembled,  and  Samuel  commenced 
with  singing  and  prayer.  During  the  second 
hymn,  a  noise  was  heard  at  the  door,  when 
Samuel  left  his  stand,  and  went  to  inquire  into 
the  cause.  He  was  met  at  the  entrance  by 
the  clergyman,  accompanied  by  another  gen- 
tleman, to  whom  he  announced  himself  as  the 
preacher. 

Clergyman.  "  We  want  none  of  your  preach- 
ing here,  and  are  resolved  not  to  have  it." 

Samuel.     "  Sir,  I  preached  the  gospel  here 

collier  from  llieir  ranks.  Gregory  took  the  hint,  and  sent 
for  Alexander,  who  appeared  before  them,  ragged  in  his 
apparel,  ami  besmeared,  like  Samuel,  with  the  tilth  of  his 
employment,  exciting  the  laughter  of  the  less  sedate  among 
the  assembly.  The  bishop  soon  perceived  him  to  he  a  man 
<>i  both  talent  and  piety;  and  after  withdrawing  with  him, 
ami  instructing  him  hoiv  to  act,  returned  to  the  assembly, 
;>iid  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  nature  of  the  pastoral  office. 
Ii  was  not  long  before  Alexander,  who  was  a  comely -look- 
ing man,  wax  again  presented  to  the  brethren,  washed,  and 
attired  in  the  canonicals  of  the  episcopal  order,  and  v»as 
chosen  —  collier  as  he  had  been — bishop  of  Comana,  with 
only  one  dissenting  voice  !  Though  there  is  no  doubt,  that 
Alexander  was  by  tar  Samuel's  superior  in  point  of  intellect, 
yet  the  coal,  the  smoke,  and  the  soot  had  an  amazing  in- 
fluence on-lhe  more  elegant  in  both  cases  5  ami  the  Wesley  an 
body  was  as  great  a  Ii  -)p  to  the  latter  as  Gregory  was  to  th» 
former. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  117 

before  you  were  born,  and  I  will  live  to  preach 
it  when  you  are  gone." 

Cler.  "  I  tell  you,  I  will  not  suffer  you  to 
preach  here.     This  house  is  my  property." 

Sarn.  "  Why,  sir,  you  do  not  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  people,  for  you  deny  inspiration  ; 
and  no  man  can  preach  it  but  by  inspiration  of 
the  Spirit  of  God." 

Cler.  "  I  discharge  you  from  preaching  in 
this  bouse." 

To  this  authority  Samuel  reluctantly  sub- 
mitted, as  it  would  have  been  imprudent  to  en- 
courage the  occupants  to  persist  in  resisting  their 
landlord  :  the  people  were  therefore  dismissed. 
The  clergyman,  however,  mistook  his  opponent, 
if  he  concluded  that  the  field  was  his  own  , 
for  though  the  preacher  was  driven  from  the 
house,  he  was  not  driven  from  his  purpose. 
On  returning  home,  he  wrote  a  long,  faithful 
letter  to  the  reverend  gentleman  ;  informing 
him,  in  connection  with  the  admonitions  sent, 
that  on  the  following  sabbath  he  should  again 
visit  Ledsham — occupy  a  piece  of  waste  land 
in  the  village,  to  which  he  could  lay  no  claim, 
as  it  belonged  to  the  lord  of  the  manor — and 
should  there,  in  his  own  cart,  preach  to  the 
people  ;  giving  him  an  invitation  at  the  same 
time  to  attend,  and  to  correct  him  in  any  thing 
he  might  advance  contrary  to  the  Scriptures  or 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  As  he  made  no 
secret  of  either  his  letter  or  his  intentions,  the 
report  of  his  visit  to  Ledsham,  in  defiance  of 
the  newly  inducted  minister,  soon  spread  among 


118      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

the  neighbouring  villagers.  The  day  arrived — 
the  people  flocked  to  the  place  from  a  circle  of 
some  miles.  Samuel,  alter  unyoking  his  horse, 
appeared  in  his  cart,  occupying  it  as  a  pulpit 
for  the  occasion,  accompanied  by  four  local 
preachers — the  air  rang  with  the  song  of  praise 
— and  a  gracious  influence  attended  the  word. 
The  clergyman  and  his  lady  stood  at  a  distance 
hearkening  to  what  was  said.  Samuel,  to- 
ward the  close,  told  them  that  he  loved  the 
Church,  and  hoped  that,  "  as  soon  as  the  bells" 
gave  "over  tinkling"  they  would  accompany 
him,  and  join  in  its  service.  "  We  all  went," 
he  observed,  "  and  I  never  saw  a  church  so 
full  in  my  life.  The  aisles,  the  communion- 
place,  and  bell-house,  were  all  crammed  full. 
What  was  best  of  all,  the  clerk  was  on  our  side, 
and  gave  out  a  hymn  tune.  Such  glorious 
music  I  never  heard  in  a  church  before.  The 
parson,  poor  young  man  !  was  overfaced  with 
us,  and  could  not  preach  ;  so  that  he  had  to 
employ  another  person."  Asa  substitute  is  not 
so  easily  obtained,  in  an  emergency  of  this  kind, 
in  the  Establishment  as  among  the  Dissenters, 
it  is  probable  that  the  person  was  prepared  for 
the  duties  of  the  day,  independent  of  this  cir- 
cumstance, and  that  Samuel  attributed  to  the 
congregation  that  which  originated  in  indispo- 
sition. This  is  the  more  likely,  from  what 
Samuel  adds: — "The  poor  young  man  went 
oh**  to  London  next  morning,  where  he  died,  and 
was  brought  back  to  be  buried  about  six  months 
after."      This    fact,  taken  in   connection  with 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  119 

Samuel's  declaration,  "  I  preached  the  gospel 
here  before  you  were  born,  and  will  live  to 
preach  it  when  you  are  gone,"  falls  upon  the 
heart  with  peculiar  solemnity.  It  ought  not  be 
omitted,  that  the  clergyman  beckoned  the 
churchwarden  to  him  after  the  service,  and 
stated  that  he  had  inquired  into  the  character 
of  the  old  blacksmith — found  that  he  was  a 
very  good  man — and  wished  him  to  be  in- 
formed from  himself,  that  he  might  preach  in 
the  village  whenever  he  judged  proper. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

His  qualifications  for  soliciting  pecuniary  aid — An  un- 
successful application  to  a  clergyman — Relieves  his  circuit 
from  a  debt  of  seventy  pounds — His  anxiety  to  obtain  a 
chapel  at  Aberford — A  miser,  and  his  manner  of  addressing 
him — A  chapel  erected — Contests  with  different  avaricious 
characters — A  visit  to  Rochdale — Administers  seasonable 
relief  to  a  preacher's  family — His  Scriptural  views  of  chanty 
— Supplies  a  poor  family  with  coals — Regales  part  of  a 
company  of  soldiers  on  a  forced  march — An  amusing  do- 
mestic scene — Visitation  of  the  sick — Gives  up  the  use  of 
tobacco  from  principle — His  indisposition,  and  inattention 
to  the  advice  of  his  medical  attendan' — The  good  effects  of 
his  state  of  mind  upon  others — Raises  a  subscription  for  a 
poor  man — Relieves  a  poor  female — His  love  to  the  mis- 
sionary cause — Origin  of  missionary  meetings  among  the 
Wesley  ans. 

Srcn  was  the  native  restlessness  of  Samuel's 
character,  that,  like  quicksilver,  the  slightest 
impulse  propelled  and  continued  him  in  motion. 
With  the  exception  of  sleep,  or  the  utter  ex- 
haustion of  his  physical   powers    he   scarcely 


120  THE    VILLAGE    EI.ACKSMITH. 

knew  a  pause  in  the  work  of  God.  This 
promptitude  to  be  serviceable  to  others,  the 
general  esteem  in  which  ho  was  held,  together 
with  a  peculiar  fitness  for  benevolent  enter- 
prise— the  latter  of  which  was  founded  on  his 
own  generosity — his  simplicity  of  manners,  a 
certain  straightforwardness,  which  knew  no 
fear,  and  saw  no  difficulties,  rendered  him  a 
desirable  person  to  engage  in  any  purpose  of 
soliciting  pecuniary  aid.  Accordingly,  he  was 
selected  by  a  committee  formed  for  the  occasion, 
and  was  commissioned  to  go  through  the  circuit 
in  which  he  resided,  to  collect  subscriptions  in 
order  to  relieve  it  from  its  financial  embarrass- 
ments. Clothed  with  proper  authority,  and 
furnished  with  a  book  in  which  to  enter  the 
names  of  his  subscribers,  he  went  forth  with 
the  freshness  and  spirit  of  the  husbandman 
entering  for  the  first  time  in  the  season  into  the 
harvest-field.  He  saw  the  fields  white,  and  in 
his  view  had  nothing  to  do  but  put  in  the  sickle. 
He  found  few  obstructions  ;  and  among  those 
few — created,  by  the  way,  by  his  own  impru- 
dence— he  records  one  which  may  be  consi- 
dered more  amusing  than  vexatious. 

"  I  went  to  Ricall,"  says  he  ;  "  and  as  I  pur- 
posed going  to  all  the  houses  in  the  town,  I 
thought  there  would  be  no  harm  in  calling  upon 
the  Church  clergyman.  I  did  so  ;  and  found 
him  in  his  garden.  I  presented  my  book,  which 
he  gave  me  again,  and  looked  at  me."  The 
look  would  have  had  a  withering  effect  upon 
many  of  Samuel's  superiors  ;  but  the  same  spirit 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  121 

and  views  which  emboldened  him  to  make  the 
application,  supported  him  in  the  rebuff  with 
which  he  met.  "  I  am  surprised,"  said  the 
clergyman,  "  that  you  should  make  such  a  re- 
quest ;  that  you  should  ask  me  to  support  dis- 
senters from  the  Church  of  England  !"  Samuel 
instantly  interposed  with,  "  No,  sir,  we  are  not 
dissenters  ;  the  church  has  dissented  from  us. 
The  Methodists  are  good  churchmen,  where 
the  gospel  is  preached.  And  as  for  myself,  I 
never  turned  my  back  on  a  brief  when  I  went 
to  church."  Though  wiser  heads  than  his 
own  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  charge  dis- 
senterism  upon  the  Church,  except  from  Popery, 
he  was  correct  in  his  denial  of  the  application 
of  the  epithet  to  the  Methodist  body.  The 
retort  was  more  equitably  supported  when  he 
defended  himself,  by  adding,  to  his  reverence, 
"  I  think  there  is  no  more  harm  in  you  helping 
to  support  us,  than  there  is  in  us  helping  to 
support  you."  The  clergyman  here  very  pro- 
perly took  shelter  under  the  wing  of  the  state — 
his  only  ground  of  defence — by  replying,  "  You 
are  obliged  to  support  us  ;  the  law  binds  you  to 
do  it.''  Samuel,  in  return,  resorted  to  the  only 
code  of  laws  with  which  he  had  any  acquaint- 
ance, and  which  he  consulted  daily — the 
Christian  code — saying,  "  Ours  is  a  law  of 
love  ;  and  if  we  cannot  all  think  alike,  we  must 
all  love  alike."  He  concludes,  on  retiring  with 
his  Wesleyan  "  Lritf"  which  met  with  a 
better  reception  elsewhere,  "  We  parted  after  a 
long  contest ;   and  although  1  did  not  get  any 


122  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

money  from  him,  I  would  not  have  taken  five 
shillings  for  my  cause  ;"  or,  as  in  all  probability 
he  meant,  the  opportunity  he  had  just  had  of 
pleading  and  supporting  it. 

His  summary  of  his  labours,  treatment,  and 
success,  during  the  remainder  of  his  tour,  is 
worthy  of  notice  :  "  I  had  a  very  good  time  in 
going  around  the  circuit — had  very  kind  friends 
— preached  and  prayed — and  got  seventy  pounds 
toward  the  debt.  While  employed  in  this 
noble  work,  I  got  my  own  soul  blessed  ;  and  I 
grew  like  a  willow  by  the  waterside.  I  got 
many  a  wet  shirt,  and  many  a  warm  heart ;  and 
while  I  was  begging  for  money,  I  did  not  for- 
get to  pray  for  the  souls  of  my  fellow-creatures." 

Some  money  which  had  been  lent  upon  a 
chapel  in  the  neighbourhood  some  time  after 
this,  being  about  to  be  called  in,  Samuel  felt 
very  uncomfortable  lest  the  sum  should  not  be 
forthcoming  when  required.  Relief  seemed  to 
present  itself  in  a  moment,  while  musing  in  his 
shop.  He  laid  aside  his  tools — went  into  the 
house — washed — and  attired  himself  in  his 
best  apparel.  His  friend,  Mr.  R.,  surprised  to 
see  him  thus  habited,  inquired,  "  Where  are 
you  going,  Samuel  ?"  "  1  am  bown  (going)  to 
Frystone,  to  get  some  money  for  the  chapel," 
he  replied.     "  Of  whom  ?"  it  was  asked.     "  Of 

Mr.    ,"  was  rejoined.      Mr.    R.,    knowing 

the  gentleman,  and  considering  him  from  his 
prejudices  ami  habits,  to  be  a  very  unlikely 
prison  for  such  an  application,  endeavoured  to 
dissuade  him  from  his  journey.      His  entreaties 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  123 

were  fruitless  :  Samuel  set  off — obtained  an  in- 
terview with  the  gentleman — was  courteously 
received — and  after  naming  the  object  of  his 
mission,  the  circumstances  in  which  the  trus- 
tees would  be  placed,  and  the  nature  of  the 
security,  was  told  that  the  money  was  at  his 
service  at  any  hour.  Samuel  returned  de- 
lighted, and  it  is  doubtful,  whether  any  man 
besides  himself  would  have  obtained  relief 
from  the  same  source.  Mr.  R.  had  given  all 
up  in  despair. 

Samuel  Hick  was  a  man  who  would  not 
solicit  charities  from  others,  in  order  to  save 
himself,  or  even  a  loan,  which  he  would  not 
have  cheerfully  advanced,  provided  he  had 
the  amount  in  his  possession.  He  gave  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability,  and  might  even  be  asso- 
ciated with  those  of  the  Corinthians  who,  "  be- 
yond their  power,  were  willing  of  themselves" 
to  impart  gifts  to  others.  Many  interesting  in- 
stances of  liberality  might  be  selected  from 
different  periods  of  his  personal  history,  and 
here  concentrated.  As  specimens  of  others 
which  must  henceforth  remain  curtained  from 
earthly  gaze,  the  following  charities,  without 
attending  to  any  chronological  arrangement, 
will  tend  to  illustrate  one  of  the  more  important 
traits  in  his  character. 

He  had  long  looked  upon  Aberford,  his  birth- 
place, as  his  Redeemer  had  beheld  Jerusalem 
— with  the  compassionate  emotions  of  a  soul 
alive  to  the  spiritual  dangers  and  necessities  of 
the  inhabitants.     His  wish  to  see  a  Wesleyan 


124  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

chapel  erected  in  it  amounted  even  to  anxiety, 
if  not  pain.  In  the  year  1804,  his  wife  had 
j£200  left  her  by  a  relation.  This  was  placed 
by  the  side  of  the  fruits  of  his  own  industry, 
and  the  union  gave  the  appearance  of  wealth 
in  humble  life.  As  his  property  increased,  so 
did  his  anxiety  for  a  place  of  worship  at  Aber- 
ford  ;  and  he  at  length  declared,  that  if  not  a 
farthing  should  be  contributed  by  others,  rather 
than  the  village  should  be  without  a  chapel,  he 
would  give  the  j£200  which  he  had  lately  re- 
ceived. He  stated  his  views  and  feelings  to 
Mr.  Rhodes,*  and  remarked,  that  he  thought  he 
could  procure  a  piece  of  ground  from  a  gentle- 
man, who,  though  a  Methodist,  had  not  come 
so  far  under  the  influence  of  its  spirit  as  to 
subdue  the  covetousness  of  his  nature. f  Mr. 
Rhodes  intimated  to  him,  that  he  doubted  his 
success  in  the  direction  toward  which  he  was 
looking,  unless  the  old  gentleman  was  either 
about  to  die,  or  some  extraordinary  change  had 
taken  place  in  the  disposition  of  his  heart. 
Samuel  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  his  pur- 
pose :   he  could  have  rendered  nugatory,  by  a 

*  This  venerable  man,  who  was  living;  when  the  44th 
pftge  of  the  first  edition  of  this  memoir  was  in  the  press, 
has  Bince  joined  the  world  of  spirits.  "  He  died  May  Jtit-b," 
says  Mr  Dawson,  "and  entered  the  same  heaven  with 
Samuel." 

t  Samuel  had  some  odd  notions  anil  expressions  relative 
to  such  characters,  Looking  abroad  at  the  fine  feeling  of 
benevolence  which  had  gone  forth,  and  nol  often  associating 
with  persona  of  h  parsimonious  disposition,  he  exclaimed  to 
a  friend  one  day,  "The  lu-ccd  of  misers  is  nearl)  nm  out, 
and  nol  one  of  the  few  thai  arc  living  dare  get  married,  so 
that  m  a  little  tune  we  sha'l  see  no  more  of  them." 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  125 

cingle  sentence — "  The  Lord  has  the  hearts  of 
all  men  in  his  own  keeping" — all  the  reason- 
ing of  the  most  skilful  logician — could  have  dis- 
sipated every  doubt  like  mist  before  the  sun. 
Away  he  proceeded  to  the  late  Sir  Thomas 
Gascoigne,  Bart.,  the  lord  of  the  manor,  in 
order,  in  the  first  instance,  to  obtain  permission 
to  procure  stone  upon  Hook  Moor,  since  without 
building  materials  the  land  would  not  have  an- 
swered his  purpose.  This  was  readily  granted. 
He  next  proceeded  to  the  gentleman  loaded 
with  "  thick  clay,"  who  was  instinctively  led  to 
raise  objections  against  the  proposal.  Samuel, 
in  perfect  keeping  with  the  other  portions  of  his 
thinkings  and  remarks,  combated  every  objec- 
tion, not  in  the  detail,  but  with  one  of  his  whole- 
sale sweeps — "  The  land  is  the  Lord's;  you 
are  only  the  occupier ;  and  the  Lord  wants  some 
of  his  own  land  to  build  his  own  house  upon." 
Mr.  '£'.,  who  already  had  the  "  nine  points"  in 
law  on  his  side,  was  ;.ot  to  be  subdued  by  a 
single  blow  in  the  onset ;  nor  was  Samuel  to 
abandon  himself  to  despair  by  the  notion  of 
possession,  as  he  could  have  instantly  conjured 
up  the  argument  of  death  to  dispossess  the 
occupant.  Such,  howeA-er,  were  the  irresistible 
appeals  of  one  untutored  mii.d  upon  another, 
such  Samuel's  importunity,  that  the  miser  in 
the  man  actually  gave  way  before  him,  and  the 
old  gentleman  told  him,  that  he  thought  he 
should  not  live  much  longer,  and  would  there- 
fore let  him  have  the  piece  of  ground  which  he 
had    selected    for  the  purpose.     Samuel  went 


126  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

home  rejoicing  :  but  his  joy,  alas  !  was  of  short 
duration  ;  it  was  like  llie  fold  of  a  cloud,  which, 
by  suddenly  opening  and  reclosing,  only  veils 
the  heavens  with  additional  darkness:  the 
miser  started  into  life  again  during  his  absence, 
the  proprietor  altered  his  resolution,  and  every 
hope  was  frosted.  All,  however,  was  not  lost. 
"  It  is  but  justice  to  state,"  Mr.  Dawson  ob- 
serves, "  that  though  Mr.  T.  died  before  a  chapel 
was  erected  at  Aberford,  yet  be  expressed  a 
wish  to  his  executors  that  they  should  give 
five  pounds  toward  such  erection,  should  one 
at  any  future  period  be  built.  With  this  re 
quest;  though  only  orally  delivered,  they  cheer 
fully  complied." 

About  eight  years  after  this,  there  was  ? 
favourable  opening  for  a  chapel,  which  Samuel 
promptly  embraced.  lie  was  desirous,  however, 
of  associating  Martha  with  him  in  this  charity; 
and  having  more  confidence  in  his  God  than  in 
himself,  he  retired  to  pray,  that  her  heart  might 
be  prepared  for  its  exercise.  On  withdrawing 
from  his  privacy,  and  appearing  before  her,  he 
scarcely  felt  satisfied  respecting  his  success, 
and  again  retired  without  opening  his  mind  on 
the  subject.  He  prayed — he  believed — and 
rising  from  his  knees,  descended  from  the 
chamber  in  confidence.  Martha  knew  that  a 
chapel  was  on  the  eve  of  being  built-;  and  the 
moment  now  arrived  for  ascertaining  the  tem- 
perature of  her  charily.  Samuel  opened  the 
business  :  "  You  know,  we  are  bown  to  have 
a  chapel  at  Aberford,  Matty,  and  we  must  give 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  127 

something  to  it ;  what  do  you  think  it  should 
be  ?"  "  Well,"  returned  Martha,  whose  proper 
character  ouly  required  a  fitting  occasion  for 
disclosure,  "  We  mun  gee  summut  haunsom." 
Never  did  music  sound  sweeter  to  the  human 
ear  than  did  this  sentence  to  Samuel,  who  was 
instantly  in  tears.  Bui  '.here  was  still  a  degree 
of  uncertainty  remaining,  in  reference  to  the 
standard  which  each  had  separately,  and  pri- 
vately, fixed  upon,  as  reaching  the  point,  which, 
in  their  circumstances,  was  deemed  something 
handsome.  Samuel,  cLfiffcfojv.,  solicitous  to  come 
to  a  conclusion,  asked,  "  And  what  shall  it 
be?"  "  Twenty  pounds,"  replied  Martha.  This 
was  almost  too  much  for  his  feelings,  not  only 
on  account  of  the  generosity  displayed,  but  be- 
cause it  was  the  very  sum  upon  which  he  him- 
self had  previously  determined;  and  the  oppor- 
tunity for  noticing  it  is  the  more  readily  em- 
braced, in  order  to  place  Martha's  character  in 
a  correct  light.  It  was  intended  as  the  dwelling- 
place  of  her  God — it  was  a  charity  in  which 
immortal  spirits  were  concerned — and  was  also 
to  be  erected  in  the  birth-place  of  her  husband. 
A  gentleman  farmer  undertook  the  work  of 
soliciting  subscriptions  for  its  erection,  and 
Samuel  had  the  unspeakable  pleasure  of  seeing 
it  rise  in  the  face  of  the  sun,  vying  with  all 
around  it  for  neatness  and  accommodation. 
Samuel  had  the  honour  of  laying  the  first  stone, 
upon  which  he  devoutly  knelt,  and  most  fer- 
vently prayed  for  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the 
house  whirh  was  to  overshadow  it :   "  And  as 


128  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

he  offered  the  first  prayer  upon  the  first  stone 
that  was  laid  ;'*'  so,  says  Mr.  Dawson,  "in  the 
pulpit  of  the  same  chapel,  he  preached  his  last 
sermon,  and  poured  forth  his  last  public  prayer 
for  the  prosperity  of  Zion."  The  chapel  was 
crowded  on  the  occasion,  and  a  collection  made 
by  him  in  the  evening,  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
fraying the  expense  of  cleaning,  lighting,  &c, 
which  far  exceeded  any  sum  that  had  been  ob- 
tained for  the  same  object  before  ;  the  auditory 
thus,  both  by  their  attendance  and  liberality, 
rendering  that  homage  which  they  would  have 
paid  him,  had  they  been  certain  he  was  about 
to  make  his  exit,  and  expected  to  hear  him 
announce  for  his  farewell  address,  "  Ye  shall 
see  my  face  no  more." 

A  conquest  no  less  complete,  but  much  more 
rapid  than  the  preceding,  was  one  which  he 
obtained  over  another  son  of  the  earth,  in  one  of 
his  Yorkshire  tours.  Having  met  on  former 
occasions,  they  were  known  to  each  other,  and 
as  great  an  intimacy  subsisted  between  them 
us  was  possible  in  the  admixture  of  fine  gold 
and  the  coarsest  clay.  Samuel  addressed  him 
on  the  behalf  of  Christian  missions,  but  found 
every  part  of  the  fortress  provided  with  arms 
against  any  regular  and  deliberate  attack. 
Poverty  was  pleaded — objections  to  the  object 
urged — and  reasons  given  why  help  should  be 
sought  in  other  quarters.  On  finding  all  "  special 
pleading"  ineffectual,  ami  as  though  aware  that 
a  city,  which  would  be  proof  against  a  regular 
siege,  might  nevertheless  be  taken  by  surprise, 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  129 

he  dropped  in  his  accustomed  manner  upon  his 
knees,  and  turning  from  the  miser,  directed  his 
addresses  to  God.  Every  sentence  was  like 
inspiration,  and  penetrated  the  soul  of  the  miser 
like  the  fire  of  heaven — withering  him  with 
fear.  Impressed  apparently  with  a  dread  of 
the  Being  before  whom  lie  was  immediately 
brought  in  prayer,  in  whose  hearing  he  had 
pleaded  poverty,  though  possessed  of  thousands 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  who  could  in  an  instant 
as  easily  take  away  life  as  annihilate  property, 
he  exclaimed  with  hurried  vehemence, — "  Sam, 
I'll  give  thee  a  guinea,  if  thou  wilt  give  over." 
Samuel,  unruffled  in  his  pleadings  by  the  oddity 
of  the  circumstance,  and  who,  in  fact,  had  too 
many  of  his  own  to  be  moved  by  those  of 
others,  and  encouraged  withal  by  the  symptoms 
which  appeared,  proceeded  with  earnestness  in 
his  addresses,  and  changing  the  subject  with 
the  quickness  of  thought,  told  his  Maker  how 
inadequate  a  guinea  was  to  effect  the  conver- 
sion of  the  world,  and  how  trilling  a  sum  it  was 
in  return  for  the  thousands  which  the  recipient 
had  received  in  the  dispensations  of  Providence. 
The  miser  was  again  met  in  an  unexpected 
way,  and  in  the  genuine  "love  of  money,"  which 
seemed  to  excite  a  fear  lest  he  should  be  further 
wrought  upon  by  the  prayer  of  the  petitioner, 
or  God  should  extort  from  him,  in  the  moment 
of  excited  feeling,  more  than  the  selfishness  of 
his  nature  would  allow,  he  again  roared  out, — 
"  Sam,  I  tell  thee  to  give  over, — I'll  give  thee 
two  guineas,  if  thou  wilt  only  give  it  up." 
9 


130  THE     \  H.l.Ai.K     DI.ACKS.MITH. 

Anxious  to  maintain  his  ground,  Samuel  started 
up  with  the  .same  abruptness  with  which  he 
had  knelt — held  the  miser  to  his  word — secured 
two  notes — and  bore  them  away  in  triumph  to 
a  missionary  meeting  about  to  be  held  in  the 
neighbourhood,  where  he  exhibited  them  on  the 
platform,  with  the  high-wrought  feelings  of  a 
man  who  had  snatched  a  living  child  from  the 
clutch  of  an  eagle.  To  be  grave  in  the  re- 
hearsal or  hearing  of  such  facts,  is  as  difficult 
as  it  is  to  believe  in  the  sincerity  of  the  giver; 
and  were  it  not  for  the  general  artlessness  of 
conduct  and  disposition  manifested  by  Samuel, 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  view  it  other- 
wise than  as  a  species  of  dexterous  acting, 
practised  with  a  view  to  impose.  But  a  pre- 
concerted plan  would  have  spoiled  it ;  he  had 
not  a  mind  to  carry  him  forward  in  such  a  thing 
beyond  the  length  of  his  own  shadow,  beneath 
a  meridian  sun ;  he  was  the  mere  creature 
of  impulse — knew  no  mere  of  plot  than  a 
child. 

He  was  less  successful  in  another  case,  when 
called  upon  to  visit  a  professor  of  religion  pos- 
sessed of  from  six  to  eight  thousand  pounds, 
and  yet,  as  a  proof  of  the  hollowness  of  his 
professions,  would  not  allow  himself  the  com- 
mon necessaries  of  life.  Samuel,  having  heard 
hf  was  dying,  and  being  well  acquainted  with 
him,  ontered  his  habitation  of  wretchedness. 
The  furniture  was  poor,  and  appeared  to  have 
served  two  or  three  generations  in  a  regular 
ancestral  lino  ;  tho  room  was  filthy,  and  the  air 


THE     VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH  131 

foetid  ;  and  yet  the  general  survey  was  less  re- 
pulsive than  the  scene  in  one  of  the  corners  of 
the  room,  where  the  wretched  man  was  lying 
on  a  still  more  wretchedly  dirty  bedstead, 
covered  with  an  old  horse-cloth,  and  scarcely 
an  article  of  linen  visible.  Samuel  was  shocked 
at  the  sight,  and  accosted  him,  "  Man,  what  art 
thou  about  ?  Thou  hast  plenty, — why  dost 
thou  not  make  thyself  comfortable  ?  Thou  wilt 
leave  thy  money  to  those,  happen,  that  will 
make  none  of  the  best  use  of  it."*  Turning 
his  dim  eye  and  squalid  face  toward  Samuel, 
and  thrusting  his  withered  arm  from  underneath 
the  filthy  coverlet,  like  the  skeleton  arm  of 
death  stretching  into  sight,  he  pointed  his  finger 
downward  and  said,  "  Look  there — I  do  en- 
deavour to  comfort  myself."  Samuel  inclined 
his  head,  till  he  was  enabled  to  look  beneath 
the  bed,  where  he  heheld  a  small  phial-bottle, 
within  one  of  his  shoes,  the  heel  of  which  was 
high  enough  to  support  it.  "  That,"  added  he, 
"  is  a  sup  gin."  After  dealing  faithfully  with 
him,  Samuel  knelt  by  his  side,  and  supplicated 
Heaven  for  mercy.     "  But,"  said  he  to  a  friend 

*  As  a  specimen  of  what  lie  had  to  expect,  and  of  the 
profusion  of  avarice,  the  man  saw  his  nephew  and  heir, 
some  time  prior  to  this,  coming  out  of  a  public-house  op- 
posite to  liis  own,  si;i  &ering,  and  throwing  oft' the  contents 
of  a  sickened  stomach  as  he  crossed  the  street.  "  See 
thee,"  said  hi'  to  his  brother,  who  was  sitting  beside  him, 
*'  how  our  money  will  go  when  we  are  gone  ; — come,  there 
IS  a  petmy — go  thee,  and  lii-;  sortie  ale,  and  let  us  make 
ourselves  comfortable  while  we  live."  This  ale,  by  the  way, 
was  sold  at  a  penny  per  quart,  which  nothing  short  of  sheer 
want  and  feverish  thirst  could  induce  a  human  bcins;  to 
drink.     But  it  was  the  comfort  of  a  miser. 


132      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

aftevvard,  "  bless  you,  barn*  I  could  not  pray , 
the  heavens  were  like  brass ;  there  was  no 
getting  to  the  other  side  of  them  ;  and  bow  was 
it  possible  to  get  over  all  yon  old  crooks,  rusty 
iron,  and  hob-nails,  heaped  up  in  the  corner, 
which  had  been  collecting  for  years,  and  which, 
if  every  body  had  their  own,  were  happen  none 
of  his !" 

During  part  of  the  life  of  two  of  Martha's 
sisters,  who  resided  in  Rochdale,  he  paid  an 
annual  visit  to  tbem  in  that  town.  On  one  of 
these  occasions,  in  1801  or  1802,  while  .Mr. 
Percival  was  stationed  on  the  circuit,  he  went 
as  usual  to  tender  him  his  respects.  Mr.  P. 
engaged  him  to  preach  in  the  country  the  next 
day,  wbicb  was  the  sabbath,  and  a  person  was 
appointed  to  conduct  him.  Samuel  ascended 
the  pulpit,  preached  in  his  accustomed  way, 
but  failed  to  secure  the  attention  of  his  rustic 
hearers.  He  gave  up  preaching,  and  com- 
menced a  prayer-meeting.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore a  person  manifested  deep  distress  of  soul, 
on  account  of  personal  guilt.  Samuel's  com- 
panion was  alarmed  lest  some  of  the  irreligious 
part  of  the  congregation  should  become  unruly  : 
but  the  service  passed  off  much  better  than 
was  anticipated.  Samuel  called  upon  Mr. 
Percival  the  next  morning,  to  inform  him  of  his 
sabbath's  excursion  ;  and  in  allusion  to  this  and 
similar  visits,    be    told    the    people,    after   the 

«  "  Born,"  in  Scotland,  baifn,  for  child  ;  an  expression 
very  common  with  Samuel,  in  bis  addresses  to  both  rich  and 
poor,  old  and  young. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  133 

commencement  of  missionary  meetings,  that  ho 
had  "  been  a  missionary  many  years,  and  had 
preached  to  white  heathens  in  Lancashire." 
Mrs.  P.  was  confined  to  her  room,  and  Mr.  P. 
himself— being  without  servant — was  preparing 
breakfast  for  the  children — eight  or  nine  in 
number — such  a  breakfast  as  is  commonly 
used  by  the  lower  classes  of  society,  in  Lan- 
cashire and  the  west  of  Yorkshire.  Samuel 
cast  an  alternate  look  at  this  minister  of  God, 
and  at  his  poor  children  :  his  compassion  was 
moved — it  was  more  than  he  could  support 
himself  under — he  retired — walked  about  the 
ground  adjoining  the  house — sighed — wept — 
praved.  He  knew  the  price  of  provisions  was 
high,  and  board  wages  low  :  he  saw  the  effects. 
He  had  but  two  guineas  in  his  pocket  ;  he 
returned,  divided  the  sum — and  gave  Mr.  P.  a 
guinea.  On  his  arrival  at  home,  he  gave  his 
wife  the  history  of  his  journey,  together  with 
an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  dis- 
posed of  his  money,  stating,  among  other  par- 
ticulars, that  he  had  "  lent  the  Lord  a  guinea 
at  Rochdale."  Martha  remonstrated  with  him, 
supposing,  as  others  would  have  done,  that  he 
had  scarcely  acted  with  prudence  in  his  gene- 
rosity, telling  him  that,  in  his  circumstances, 
"  half  a  puinea  would  have  been  very  hand- 
some." Samuel  replied  in  his  usual  way,  with 
the  feelings  of  a  man  delivered  of  a  burden,  and 
with  strong  anticipations  of  the  future,  "  Bless 
thee,  my  lass,  the  Lord  will  soon  make  it  up  to 
us,"  which  was  actually  the  case  a  few  weeks 


134  THE    VII.I.AOK    BT.ACKSMITH. 

afterward,  and  made  up,  it  may  be  added, 
fourfold.  He  seemed  to  have  none  of  those 
secondary  or  intermediate  sentiments  and  im- 
pressions, which  are  often  fatal  to  better  feel- 
ings— the  creature  interposing  between  the 
Creator  and  the  soul;  and  hence  it  is  that  we 
perceive  the  spring  of  most  of  his  movements: 
he  considered  himself,  in  all  his  charities,  as 
acting  immediately  under  and  for  God — as  re- 
ceiving  from  HIM,  and  gicing  to  him:*  furnish- 
ing a  standing,  a  living  exemplification  of  his 
faith  in,  "  /  was  a  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me 
meat  :  inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done 
it  unto  7/?p.'' 

There  was  still  a  degree  of  mystery  hanging 
around  the  benevolence  of  Samuel  at  Rochdale, 
for  which  .Martha  was  unable  satisfactorily  to 
account,  as  she  had  only  allowed  what  she 
deemed  the  adequate  expenses  of  the  journey. 
But  Samuel,  supposing  he  was  pinioned  a  little 
too  closely  for  the  occasion,  paid  a  stolen  visit 
to  his  friend  Mr.  Rhodes  before  he  set  off,  re- 
questing the  loan  of  a  guinea,  as  he  had  fre- 
quently done,  saying,  "  We  can  set  it  straight, 
yon  know,  at  Christmas,  when  we  settle." 
When    Martha  came  to    a   knowledge    of  this, 

*  II  was  a  fine  sentiment  of  the  benevolent  Reynolds,  of 
1  iris! d1,  m  reply  t"  a  lady  who  applied  to  him  on  behall  ol  .-in 
orphan.  After  he  had  given  Liberally,  she  said,  "When  he 
is  old  1  will  teach  him  to  nam''  and  thank  his  benefactor." 
"  Stop,"  saui  the  l'ockI  man.  "  thou  aii  mistaki  ii :  we  do  not 
thank  thi'  clouds  lor  the  ram.  Teach  him  in  look  higher,  and 
thank  Him  who  giveth  both  the  clouds  and  the  raiiv" 


THK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  135 

she  remarked,  that  she  had  often  thought  that 
Mr.  Rho&es's  payments  appeared  bat  small  when 
compared  with  the  work  which  had  been  done. 

In  addition  to  this  mortgage-like  source,  to 
which  he  fled  on  special  occasions,  he  had  a 
secret  place  in  his  shop,  where  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  deposite  a  little  cash  for  regular  use. 
Living  by  the  side  of  the  great  north  road  from 
London  to  Edinburgh,  he  was  constantly  receiv- 
ing visits  from  objects  of  distress.  On  their 
appearance,  he  went  to  his  hoard,  and  relieved 
them  as  his  feelings  dictated,  and  his  funds 
allowed. 

On  one  occasion  he  even  put  his  friend  Mr. 
R.  upon  his  metal,  in  the  race  of  charity.  The 
Rev.  J.  P.,  rinding  that  the  debt  upon  the  Pon- 
tefract  circuit  pressed  heavily  on  the  spirits 
and  pockets  of  the  stewards,  resolved  to  have 
it  cither  reduced  or  entirely  liquidated.  He 
accordingly  went  to  Mr.  R.  among  the  first,  as 
a  person  of  property,  in  full  expectation  of  meet- 
ing with  encouragement  and  support.  After 
looking  at  the  case,  and  hesitating  some  time, 
Mr.  R.  dryly  said,  "  You  may  put  me  down  five 
shillings."  The  reverend  applicant's  spirits 
seemed  to  drop  several  degrees  ;  and  with  his 
horizon  overcast  in  the  outset,  he  began  to  con- 
clude, that  the  debt  was  not  soon  to  be  removed. 
Samuel  was  standing  by,  employing  his  ears 
and  his  eyes,  but  not  his  voice  ;  and  Mr.  P., 
turning  to  him,  asked  despondingly,  "  How 
much  will  you  give  ?"  "  Put  me  down  a 
pound,"  he  returned.     Mr.  P.'s  spirits  suddenly 


136  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

rose — Samuel  stood  unmoved,  apparently  watch- 
ing the  effect — while  his  wealthy  friend  stared 
with  astonishment,  saying,  after  a  short  pause, 
and  in  as  graceful  a  manner  as  possible,  "  You 
will  have  to  put  me  down  the  same,  I  suppose.'" 
So  much  for  the  influence  of  example. 

lie  was  an  utter  stranger  to  the  feeling  of 
giving  "grudgingly."  His  was,  in  poetic 
language,  a  "  burning  charity  ;"  like  concealed 
lire,  constantly  enlarging,  till  it  actually  tears 
away  the  surface  of  the  earth,  to  let  loose  the 
imprisoned  flame.  It  only  wanted  an  object 
upon  which  to  expend  itself;  and  as  he  rarely 
gave  with  discretion,  the  first  applicant  generally 
fared  the  most  bountifully.  He  was  returning 
from  the  pit  one  day  with  a  load  of  coals  :  a 
little  girl  seeing  him  pass  the  door,  ran  toward 
him,  and  asked  him  for  a  piece  of  coal,  stating 
that  her  mother  was  confined,  and  the  family 
without  fire.  He  stopped  the  horse — went  into 
the  house — made  inquiry  into  their  circum- 
stances— -found  the  tale  of  the  child  correct — 
brought  the  cart  to  the  door — and  poured  down 
tin'  whole  of  the  load  free  of  cost.  Having  no 
money  upon  him  to  pay  for  an  additional  load, 
and  being  apprehensive  of  a  lecture  at  home 
for  the  (ibini<lance  of  his  charity,  he  returned 
to  the  coal-pit,  where  he  knew  he  had  credit 
for  twenty  times  the  quantity,  refilled  his  cart, 
and  returned  home  with  his  soul  hymning  its 
way  up  to  heaven,  like  the  lark  breasting  the 
morning  breeze,  and  gladdening  the  inhabitants 
below  with  its  first  song. 


Tim   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  137 

To  him  it  was  of  no  importance  what  was 
the  nature  of  ihe  want ;  if  it  were  a  want,  it  was 
sure  to  be  met  by  him  with  the  first  object  cal- 
culated to  supply  it,  to  which  he  had  any  legal 
claim  ;  and  met  too  with  the  freedom  and  sud- 
den gush  of  a  fountain  breaking  from  the  side 
of  a  hill,  giving  forth  its  streams  till  its  sources 
are  exhausted  by  its  impetuosity.  Of  this,  his 
conduct  to  some  soldiers  on  a  march,  during 
the  late  war,  affords  perhaps  as  fine  a  speci- 
men as  any  that  can  be  selected.  It  was  what 
is  termed  a  "  forced  march,"  and  in  the  height 
of  summer.  The  regiment  being  on  its  route 
to  the  south,  a  party  halted  at  Micklefield  early 
in  the  morning;  the  village  inn  could  accom- 
modate but  a  small  portion  of  them,  and  the 
remainder  took  their  seats  on  the  heaps  of 
stones  by  the  side  of  the  road.  Samuel,  as 
usual,  was  up  early,  and  sallying  out  of  the 
house,  he  had  presented  to  his  view  these  ve- 
terans in  arms.  A  thrill  of  loyalty  was  felt  in 
his  bosom,  as  every  thing  connected  with  his 
King,  to  whom  he  was  passionately  attached, 
was  calculated  to  produce.  He  instantly  re- 
turned to  the  house,  and  placed  before  the  men 
the  whole  contents  of  the  buttery,  pantry,  and 
cellar — bread,  cheese,  milk,  butter,  meat,  and 
beer  went,  and  he  himself,  in  the  midst  of  the 
men,  as  happy  as  a  king  living  in  the  hearts  of 
his  subjects.  Though  in  the  very  heyday  of 
enjoyment,  he  looked  with  tenderness  upon  the 
men,  who  were  about  to  take  the  field,  and  dis- 
missed them  with  his  blessing.     But  he  had 


138  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

part  of  the  reckoning  still  to  pay  with  his 
partner.  Martha  came  down  stairs,  and  after 
engaging  in  other  domestic  concerns,  proceeded 
to  the  buttery,  to  skim  the  milk  for  breakfast. 
All  had  disappeared.  Inquiry  was  made  ;  and 
when  she  found  how  the  things  had  been 
disposed  of,  she  chided  him,  saying,  "  You 
might  have  taken  the  cream  off  before  you  gave 
it  to  them."  Samuel  replied,  "  Bless  thee, 
barn,  it  would  do  them  more  good  with  the 
cream  upon  it."  The  officers  of  the  regiment 
having  heard  of  his  conduct,  called  upon  him 
to  remunerate  him  for  what  lie  had  done  ;  but 
he  thanked  them  for  their  intentions,  stating 
that  what  he  had  given,  he  had  freely  given, 
and  that  the  men  were  welcome  to  the  whole. 
The  tale  of  Samuel's  bounty  was  handed  from 
company  to  company,  and  lastly  from  regiment 
to  regiment :  and  on  the  plains  of  Waterloo, 
some  of  the  brave  fellows,  when  nearly  ex- 
hausted through  excessive  toil,  were  heard  to 
express  a  wish  by  some  who  had  heard  the 
story,  anil  knew  Samuel,  that  they  again  had 
access  to  his  milk  and  beer.  Little  was  ho 
aware  that  he  would  be  borne  in  British  hearts 
from  his  native  shore,  and  triumph  in  those 
hearts  in  his  deeds  of  charity,  upon  a  held  and 
in  a  Btrug£le  that  decided  the  fate  of  Europe, — 
be  recollected  as  the  warrior's  solace,  in  the 
hour  of  peril ! 

Though  Samuel  received  occasional  lectures 
from  his  good  wife  on  account  of  his  charities, 
it  was  not  owing  to  a  want  of  generous  feeling 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  139 

in  her,  but  to  a  greater  share  of  prudence  ;  and 
it  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  him,  that  he 
had  such  a  curh  at  hand  ;  otherwise  he  would 
have  been  often  seriously  involved  in  his  cir- 
cumstances, and  through  charity  alone,  might 
either  have  enlarged  the  list  of  bankrupts  in 
the  Gazette,  or  been  led  to  the  workhouse  to 
subsist  on  the  charity  of  others.  In  this, 
though  in  the  character  of  a  drawback,  she  was 
in  reality  a  help-meet ;  and  by  prudently  looking 
forward,  was  enabled  to  foresee  the  possibility 
of  an  evil  day  of  want,  and  to  hide  both  herself 
and  the  children  from  its  calamities,  by  a  little 
timely  provision.  It  was  not  surprising  to 
find  iSamuel  plunging  occasionally,  yet  inno- 
cently, when  the  reins  were  drawn  a  little  more 
tightly  than  he  wished.  An  amusing  scene  of 
this  kind  took  place  in  the  domestic  circle.  He 
was  going  out,  and  had  attired  himself  in  his 
better  garb  for  public  appearance.  Not  know- 
ing what  demands  of  justice  or  of  mercy  might 
be  made  upon  him  before  his  return,  he  asked 
his  daughter,  then  at  home,  and  who  frequently 
acted  the  part  of  purse-bearer,  for  a  few  shil- 
lings. Martha,  whose  hearing  was  unusually 
quick  on  those  occasions,  was  on  the  look  out. 
The  two  hands  were  stretched  out — that  of  the 
daughter  to  give,  and  that  of  the  father  to  re- 
ceive— without  either  of  them  being  aware  that 
another  eye  was  upon  them.  Martha,  unper- 
ctived,  glided  up  to  them  like  an  apparition — 
passed  her  arm  between  them — and,  placing 
her  hand  beneath  the  one  containing  the  silver, 


140      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

gave  it  a  sudden  jerk:  up  flew  the  contents, 
which  suddenly  descended  in  a  shower  on  the 
house  floor,  when  .Martha,  out  of  seven  or  eight 
shillings,  secured  a  dividend  of  four. 

These  little  incidents  show  the  man,  as  well 
as  the  necessary  restraints  imposed  ;  nor  could 
he  be  seen  without  them:  and  however  sen- 
sible the  biographer  may  be  of  their  want  of 
dignity,  and  sometimes  even  of  gravity,  there  is 
a  greater  solicitude  in  "  hitting  off  the  likeness," 
than  in  securing  fame  by  the  chaste  and  clas- 
sical execution  of  the  work.  Samuel,  to  be 
known,  must  be  threaded  through  every  path 
of  private  as  well  as  public  life  ;  and  into  one 
of  the  former  he  may  again  be  traced,  and  be- 
held with  interest,  if  not  admiration. 

lie  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the  sick  ;  and 
as  he  was  no  respecter  of  persons,  he  attended 
people  of  every  persuasion,  and  in  every  rank 
of  life,  to  whom  he  could  find  access.  Among 
others,  he  visited  the  wife  of  old  William  Hems- 
worth,  who  died  in  1820.  William  and  his 
sons,  having  united  themselves  to  the  Wesleyan 
society,  were  in  the  habit  of  accompanying 
Samuel  to  different  places  in  his  religious  ex- 
cursions. She,  being  a  rigid  Roman  Catholic, 
looked  upon  Samuel  as  a  heretic,  leading  them 
astray  from  the  true  faith.  Affliction,  at  length, 
overtook  her,  on  her  route  to  the  grave  :  and 
what  was  not  a  little  singular,  she  sent  for 
Samuel  to  pray  with  her.  His  prayers  were 
effectual — her  heart  was  smitten — the  clouds 
of  ignorance  and  superstition  rolled  off  in  sue- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  141 

cession  from  her  understanding,  like  mists  from 
the  face  of  a  landscape  before  the  morning  sun. 
On  the  arrival  of  the  priest,  under  whose 
guidance  she  had  been  for  a  number  of  years, 
he  was  shown  to  her  apartment;  but  instead  of 
waiting  for  instruction,  she  upbraided  him  for 
not  having  inculcated  upon  her  the  necessity 
of  the  "new  birth,"  stating,  at  the  same  time, 
that  she  derived  "  more  good  from  Sammy 
Hick's  prayer,  than  from  all  that"  she  "  had 
heard  before,  and  that  if"  she  recovered,  she 
would  "go  among  the  Methodists."  The 
daughter  asked  the  priest  to  pray  with  her 
mother ;  but  supposing  her  too  far  gone  in 
heresy  for  recovery,  he  retired,  saying,  "  I  have 
done  with  her."  It  is  pleasing  to  add,  that  the 
woman  died  in  possession  of  "  perfect  peace." 

Another  person  of  the  same  persuasion,  and 
nearly  at  the  same  time,  resident  at  Micklefield, 
was  visited  by  Samuel.  The  priest  and  Samuel 
accidentally  met  in  the  sick  man's  chamber  at 
the  same  time  ;  and  in  order  to  effect  either  the 
withdrawal  or  expulsion  of  the  latter,  the  priest 
told  the  family  that  he  could  "  not  do  any  thing 
while  Samuel"  was  present.  This  was  a  point 
which  required  some  deliberation  ;  and  no  one 
appearing  forward  in  the  business,  the  reverend 
gentleman  took  it  upon  himself,  to  order  Samuel 
to  walk  out  of  the  house.  Samuel,  supposing 
he  might  be  serviceable  on  the  occasion,  ob- 
served, "  Two  are  better  far  than  one  :"  but 
the  priest  not  according  with  this  sentiment, 
and  the  mother  of  the  poor  man  declaring,  in- 


142  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

toxicated  meanwhile  with  liquor,  that  she  could 
not  say  lur  prayers  for  Sammy  II irk,  he  was 
obliged  to  leave.  So  much  for  bigotry  and  in- 
toxication, linked  on  the  occasion  like  a  wedded 
pair  ! 

lie  was  more  useful  in  visiting  a  poor  aged 
widow.  After  encouraging  and  praying  with 
her,  he  put  sixpence  into  her  hand — the  sum 
total,  it  is  believed,  he  had  upon  his  person  at 
the  time.  She  appeared  overpowered  with 
gratitude,  and  he  was  deeply  affected  with  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  expressed.  It  sud- 
denly occurred  to  him,  and  he  internally  ac- 
costed himself — "  Bless  me  !  can  sixpence 
make  a  poor  creature  happy  ?  How  many  six- 
pences have  I  spent  on  this  mouth  of  mine, 
in  feeding  it  with  tobacco !  I  will  never  take 
another  pipe  while  I  live  :  I  will  give  to  the 
poor  whatever  I  save  from  it."  From  that 
hour  he  denied  himself.  It  was  not  long,  how- 
ever, before  he  was  seriously  indisposed.  His 
medical  attendant,  being  either  inclined  to  try 
the  strength  of  his  resolution,  or  supposing  that 
he  had  sustained  some  injury  by  suddenly 
breaking  of!"  the  use  of  the  pipe,  and  therefore 
would  derive  advantage  from  its  re-adoption, 
addressed  him  thus  : 

Phys.  "  You  must  resume  the  use  of  the 
pipe,  Mr.  Hick." 

Sa/n.  "  Never  more,  sir,  while  I  live." 

Phys.  "  It  is  essential  to  your  restoration  to 
health,  and  I  cannot  be  answerable  for  conse- 
quences, should  you  reject  the  advice  given." 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  143 

Sam.  "  Let  come  what  will,  I'll  never  take 
another  pipe  :  I've  told  my  Lord  so,  and  I'll 
abide  by  it." 

Phys.  "  You  will  in  all  probability  die,  then." 

Sam.  "  Glory  be  to  God  for  that !  I  shall  go 
to  heaven !  I  have  made  a  vow,  and  I'll  keep 
it."  His  medical  adviser  found  him  unflinching 
in  the  face  of  danger  and  of  death  ;  and  as  he 
recovered  from  his  illness,  he  more  readily  at- 
tributed the  prolongation  of  life  to  the  honour 
which  God  had  conferred  upon  him  for  his 
self-denial,  than  to  the  most  efficacious  me- 
dicine that  could  have  been  administered. 

This  fearlessness,  for  which  he  was  indebted 
both  to  nature  and  grace,  produced  on  one  oc- 
casion a  happy  effect.  He  had  been  at  Askern 
Spaw  with  Martha,  some  time  in  1816,  and  on 
his  return  home,  took  occasion  to  stand  up  in 
the  cart,  before  he  reached  Norton,  to  throw 
his  great  coat  over  her  in  order  to  prevent  her 
from  taking  cold  during  her  exposure  to  the 
open  air.  Just  at  that  moment  the  horse  took 
fright — Samuel  lost  his  balance — fell  backward 
out  of  the  cart — and  pitched  upon  his  shoulder. 
He  sustained  considerable  injury,  and  when 
raised  from  the  ground,  was  unable  to  stand 
erect.  He  was  conveyed  with  some  difficulty 
to  the  village  ;  on  reaching  which,  a  medical 
gentleman  was  sent  for,  who  deemed  it  ad- 
visable not  to  bleed  him,  though  urged  to  it  by 
him.  "  I  am  very  ill,  sir,"  said  Samuel,  "  and 
must  be  bled."  The  surgeon  replied,  "  If  you 
are  bled  at  present,  you  will  die."     "  Die — die, 


144       THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

sir,"  was  returned,  "What  is  death  to  me  7  I 
am  not  afraid  of  dying.  1  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  make  my  will ;  and  I  can  make  it  in 
two  minutes ;  there  are  plenty  of  witnesses. 
My  money  shall  be  disposed  of  so  and  so," 
naming,  in  a  few  brief  sentences,  the  manner: 
then  stretching  out  his  great  arm,  as  he  did  on 
a  subsequent  occasion,  he  said,  "  Live  or  die,  I 
will  be  bled."  The  gentleman,  hoping  the  best, 
opened  the  vein,  and  took  a  basin  of  blood 
from  him.  Not  satisfied,  Samuel  stretched  forth 
the  other  arm,  and  said,  "I  will  be  bled  in  this 
also."  His  attendant  again  complied  with  his 
wish,  and  took  from  him  a  second  basin  full. 
"When  he  did  this,"  Samuel  observed,  "the 
pain  went  away  as  nice  as  aught."  On  the 
bandages  being  properly  adjusted,  Samuel  said, 
"  Now,  doctor,  you  have  been  made  a  blessing 
to  my  body ;  I  will  beg  of  God  to  bless  your 
soul."  So  saying,  he  knelt  in  his  usual  hurried 
way,  and  devoutly  prayed  for  his  benefactor. 
The  surgeon,  on  rising,  remarked,  "  I  never 
had  such  a  patient  as  you  in  the  whole  course 
of  my  practice :"  and  then  inquired  his  name 
and  place  of  abode,  to  which  Samuel  distinctly 
replied,  hitching  in  at  the  close,  "  I  come  here 
to  preach  sometimes."  This  led  to  an  invita- 
tion to  the  house  of  the  surgeon,  the  next  time 
he  should  visit  the  village,  to  which  Samuel 
readily  acceded,  stating  afterward  to  a  friend, 
th.it  he  was  "jxlad  of  it,"  for  he  "wanted  a 
good  inn  there."  Accordingly,  the  next  time 
he  was  appointed  to  preach  in  the  village,  he 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  145 

rode  up  to  the  surgeon's  door,  was  hospitably 
entertained,  and  had  both  the  surgeon  himself 
and  his  family  as  hearers.  The  house  in  which 
he  preached  was  exceedingly  crowded  ;  and  on 
returning  with  the  family,  he  accosted  his  host, 
— "  You  see,  doctor,  how  uncomfortable  we 
are.  We  ought  to  have  a  chapel.  The  stone 
is  the  Lord's — the  wood  is  the  Lord's — and  the 
money  is  the  Lord's."  The  gentleman  took 
the  hint ;  and  with  a  heart  as  ready  to  improve 
upon  it,  as  he  had  acuteness  to  perceive  it, 
offered  a  subscription  to  set  the  work  in  motion  ; 
Samuel  instantly  proceeded  to  solicit  subscrip- 
tions from  others  ;  and  out  of  this  misfortune 
arose  a  Wesleyan  Methodist  chapel.  In  that 
chapel  Samuel  had  the  pleasure  of  holding 
forth  the  word  of  life.  It  may  be  added,  that 
so  much  delighted  was  the  gentleman  with  the 
patience,  fortitude,  and  conversation  of  Samuel; 
and  connecting  with  it  his  intention  to  leave 
home  two  or  three  times  before  he  was  sent 
for,  but  still  unaccountably  detained,  without 
being  able  to  assign  any  reason,  till  Samuel's 
messenger  arrived,  he  was  led  to  acknowledge 
a  supreme  power,  and  to  perceive  a  vitality  in 
the  influence  of  religion  upon  the  heart,  which 
he  had  neither  previously  known  nor  confessed. 
Prodigal  as  Samuel  was  in  some  of  his  cha- 
rities, toward  persons  in  great  need,  and  who 
were  likely  to  make  a  proper  use  of  them, 
there  were  seasons  when  he  seemed  to  be 
vested  with  a  discretional  power,  beneficial  to 
the  recipient.  A  poor  man  had  lost  a  horse 
10 


146      THK  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

by  sickness.  Samuel,  who  was  "  a  .servant.  61 
all  work,"  in  the  begging  line,  went  around  the 
neighbourhood,  and  collected  money  for  the 
purchase  of  another.  This  amounted  to  a  guinea 

more  than  the  value  of  the  animal, — a  sum  of 
less  than  twenty  shillings  being  sufficient  to 
purchase  another  equally  poor  to  replace  it. 
The  man  himself,  though  a  professor  of  reli- 
gion, was  less  entitled  to  Samuel's  corifidence 
than  his  benevolence:  and  to  show  how  low 
Ik-  stood,  by  the  small  degree  of  prosperity  he 
was  capable  of  sustaining,  Samuel,  speaking  of 
him  to  a  friend,  said,  "  L  did  not  give  him  the 
guinea  all  at.  once  ;  I  gave  it  him  as  I  though' 
he  needed  it  ;  for  hless  you,  barn,  you  see  he 
could  not  hear  prosperity."  The  notion  of 
"prosperity"  being  appended  to  so  small  a  sum, 
is  worthy  of  being  preserved  as  a  memento 
emanating  from  a  mind  which  was  itself  stamped 
by  it  as  a  still  greater  curiosity. 

Benevolence  of  heart,  though  connected  with 
slender  personal  means,  is  often  of  greater  value 
in  a  neighbourhood,  in  such  a  man  as  Samuel 
link,  than  the  opulence  of  others.  A.  female 
who  resided  about  a  mile  from  his  house  was 
extremely  poor,  and  hastening,  through  con- 
sumption, to  an  invisible  world.  When  her 
case  became  known,  he  went  to  Aberford — 
applied  to  several  respectable  people — stated 
her  circumstances — and  solicited  a  variety  of 
things  which  he  deemed  suitable  for  her  relief 
and  support.  Aware  of  the  honour  which  God 
puts  upon  faith,  agfteabl)  to  the  declaration  of 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  147 

our  Lord  to  the  blind  man — "  According  to 
your  faith  be  it  unto  you,"  he  provided  himself 
beforehand,  in  the  strength  of  his  confidence, 
with  a  basket  ;  which,  together  with  his  pocket, 
was  replenished  on  his  return,  having  between 
twenty  and  thirty  shillings  in  one, — muffins, 
bread,  butter,  sugafj  and  a  shoulder  of  mutton 
in  the  other.  Careful  .Martha,  who  was  never 
backward  in  rare  eases,  as  has  been  perceived, 
and  would  have  done  more  in  such  as  were 
less  necessitous,  had  she  not  known  that 
Samuel's  benevolence  was  more  than  sufficient 
for  both,  added  her  half-crown  to  the  moneys 
collected  ;  and  Samuel,  with  his  basket  by  his 
side,  set  off  to  the  cottage  of  this  daughter  of 
affliction,  and  was  received  like  the  angel  of 
plenty  in  time  of  famine. 

"  Hisheart  always  melted,"  says  Mr.  Dawson, 
"  at  the  sightj  or  on  hearing  the  tale  of  wo. 
He  could  not  hear  of  persons  in  distress,  but  he 
wept  over  them  ;  and  if  they  were  within  his 
reach,  lie  relieved  them  according  to  his  ability, 
applying  also  to  others  more  affluent  than  him- 
self to  assist  in  such  works  of  mercy.  If  ever 
a  person  answered  the  character  of  the  liberal 
man,  who  devises  liberal  things,  Samuel  Hick 
was  the  man.  The  highest  luxury  that  he 
could  enjoy  was,  to  deal  out  bread  to  the  hungry, 
to  bring  the  poor  into  his  house  that  were  cast 
out,  to  cover  the  naked,  and  to  satisfy  the 
afflicted  soul.  Then  it  was  that  he  felt  the  full 
truth  of  that  sentence,  'It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive.'  " 


148  Tin:    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

But  if  one  object  of  charity  was  inure  para- 
mount than  another  in  his  affections  and  exer- 
tions, it  was  that  of  Christian  missions  ; — a 
charity  on  the  broadest  scale,  which  blends  all 
the  miseries  of  time  with  the  glories  of  eternity, 
alleviating  the  one  by  the  contemplation  of  the 
other  ; — a  charity  which  looks  at  the  whole  man, 
in  all  the  relations  of  life  ; — a  charity  whose 
object  is  the  destruction  of  sin — that  which, 
like  a  pestilential  vapour,  blights  the  whole 
harvest  of  human  hope  and  comfort,  and,  carry- 
ing the  seeds  of  destruction  into  every  source 
of  prosperity,  reduces  society  to  the  condition 
of  a  tree  withered  to  the  root ; — a  charity,  in 
short,  occasioned  by  "  Paradise  Lost,"  and 
which  will  never  know  cessation  in  its  doings 
till  the  fact  is  ascertained  of  "  Paradise  Re- 
gained." So  far  back  as  the  period  when  the 
late  Dr.  Coke  commenced  what  has  been  termed 
the  "  drudgery  of  begging,"  Samuel  gave  him 
half  a  guinea  for  the  support  of  the  missions  ; 
and  this,  considering  the  scanty  means  he  had 
then  at  command,  and  the  small  number  of 
missionaries  employed,  would  not  have  dis 
graced  the  "  Reports"  of  modern  times.  But 
it  was  not  till  the  public  meetings  commenced 
at  Leeds,*    and  elsewhere,    that  his    soul,  as 

*  The  biographer  has  had  too  deep  an  interest  in  tliese 
meetings  not  t<>  recollect  the  influence  of  their  beginnings 
upon  his  own  mind,  It  is  difficult  precisely  to  determine  at 
tins  distance  of  time  with  whom  tin'  firsl  thoughl  originated, 

or  what  was  tin-  first  sentence  that  led  to  them.  Mr.  -Scarth, 
of  Leeds,  repeated]]  remarked  to  Mr.  Dawson,  hifnre  Dr. 
Coke  took  his  departure  lor  India,  "The  missionary  cause 
must  be  taken  out  of  the  doctor's  hands  ,   il  must  he  made  » 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  149 

(hough  it  had  been  in  bondage  before — for  such 
was  the  change — bounded  off,  and  expatiated 
at  full  liberty.  Here  he  had  ample  scope  for 
the  finest,  the  fullest,  and  the  deepest  philan- 
thropic feelings  of  his  heart  ;  and  for  many 
miles  around  his  own  homestead  it  was  rare  not 


r 

h 


ublic — a  common  cause."  It  is  not  impossible  that  this  may 
ave  been  the  germ  of  the  whole.  The  Dissenters  had  a 
public  meeting  in  Leeds,  a  few  months  previous  to  the  first 
public  one  among  the  Wesleyans.  This  having  been  held 
in  the  course  of  the  summer,  Messrs.  Scarth  and  Turkington 
visited  the  conference,  and  expressed  their  views  on  the 
subject  to  the  Rev.  George  Marsden,  stating  that  something 
should  be  done  in  a  more  public  way  for  the  missionary  in 
terest  belonging  to  their  own  body.  With  their  views  Mr. 
M.  perfectly  coincided.  When  the  embarrassed  state  of  the 
missionary  fund  came  before  the  conference,  there  appeared 
to  be  no  alternative  between  reducing  the  preachers  at  home 
or  the  missionaries  abroad.  There  was  too  much  zeal  and 
liberality  in  the  body  to  permit  either.  The  subject  was  one 
of  deep  interest ;  and  did  not  die  at  conference.  Mr.  Morley, 
the  Leeds  superintendent,  thought,  that  if  the  Dissenters 
could  raise  a  Missionary  Meetino,  the  Methodists  might 
also  ;  and  accordingly  suggested  the  subject  to  his  colleagues, 
Messrs.  Bunting  and  Pilfer,  who  zealously  entered  into  his 
views.  Not  satisfied  with  commencing  this '■' new  thinf  in 
Methodism  on  their  own  responsibility,  they  were  desirous 
of  knowing  how  far  the  proposal  of  a  public  meeting  would 
meet  with  .the  countenance  of  others  cf  their  brethren. 
Bramlev  having  been  then  but  recently  divided  from  the 
Leeds  circuit — a  close  union  still  subsisting  between  them — 
And  being  contiguous  to  each  other,  these  gentlemen  pro 
ceeded  thither,  with  a  view  to  deliberate  with  the  Rev.  W. 
Naylor  and  the  biographer,  who  were  then  stationed  on  the 
Bramley  circuit.  No  persuasion  was  requisite  ;  the  pro- 
priety, necessity,  and  practicability  of  the  measure  were 
manifest  at  once.  The  Leeds  and  the  Bramlcy  preachers 
thus  took  the  first  decisive  and  active  step  in  the  work, 
which  has  since  been  carried  on  to  such  an  extent.  A  cor 
responding  chord  was  suon  found  to  vibrate  with  pleasure  in 
the  breasts  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  R.  Watson  and  J.  Buckley, 
of  the  Wakefield  circuit ;  and  they  were  followed  by  Messrs. 
Reecc  and  Atmorc,  of  the  Bradford  and  Halifax  circuits. 


150  THE    VILLAGE    BLACK8MITH. 

to  sco  his  face  turn  Up  in  the  crowd,  like  tlio 
image  on  a  favourite  medal,  which  is  the  pride 
and  boast  of  the  antiquary,  and  fixes  the  eye  of 
the  spectator  much  sooner  than  most  of  the 
others  which  adorn  his  cabinet. 


CHAPTER  vil. 

His  patriotic  feeling— High  price  of  provisions — Differs 
with  Mr.  Pawson   for  progno  1  —  Letter  to  the 

Rev.  Edward  Jr.  tened  invasion  of 

Bonaparte — An  address  to  the  king — Samuel's  loyalty — 
M.  A.  Taylor,  Esq.— The  suppression  of  a  religious  as- 
sembly—A  defend  ious  revival — His  interview 
with  Mr.  Taylor— Obtaii  to  preach — An  allusion 
to  him  in  a  parliari                  bate. 

A  man  like  Samuel  Hick,  whose  mind  was 
so  thoroughly  imbued  with  divine  grace,  was 
not  likely  to  be  defective  in  what  is  termed 
nationality, arid  the  still  more  Scriptural  prin- 
ciple of  loyalty.  Never  did  a  Sew,  by  the 
rivers  of  Babylon,  reflect  with  greater  tender- 
ness upon  Judea,  "in   a  strange  kind."  than  he 

who  both  exulted  in  the  prospeel  of  so  ample  a  harvest  of 
Mr.  Bunting  organized  the  first  plan— Mr.  Watson 
wrote   the  firsl  address— Mr.    Buckley   preached  the  first 
s, ,,,,  rmley,  a  place  b<  longing  to  the 

Bramley  circuit— ami  the  first  public  meeting  was  held  in 
Ihe  .:  •    Leeds, — T.  Thompson,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  in 

the  chair.    The  meetings  were  at  fit  some  of  the 

of  enthusiasm,  and  as  the  forerunner 
of  a  marriage  union  with  the  world.  But  they  became  so 
productive,  and  were  so  instrumental  in  producing  good  to 
the  cot  thai  the  mosi  sturd)  oppom  nts  were  not 

(infrequently  found  afterward  in  the  chair  dedivering  their 
recantations. 


TJIK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  151 

did  upon  his  country,  which  he  was  in  the  ha- 
bit of  designating,  "  our  island" — "  our  England," 
always  considering  himself  as  having  a  per- 
sonal interest  at  stake  in  all  its  affairs  ;  and  neves 
did  a  subject  in  anv  realm  pour  out  with  greater 
sincerity  and  fervour  the  prayer  of — "  God  save 
the  king." 

During  one  of  Mr.  Pawson's  appointments  to 
the  Leeds  circuit,  Samuel  observes,  "  Corn 
was  very  dear.  The  poor  people  went  around 
our  town  with  a  half  guinea  in  their  hands, 
and  could  not  get  a  stroke*  of  corn  for  it.  Mr. 
Pawson  came  to  Sturton  Grange  to  preach, 
and  while  preaching,  he  told  his  congregation 
that  there  would  be  a  famine  in  our  land,  an-! 
that  he  hail  seen  it  coming  on  for  twenty  years." 
Such  a  prophecy,  from  such  a  prophet — a  man 
whom,  like  all  other  Wesleyan  ministers,  he 
considered  an  apostle  of  God — and  in  reference 
to  his  own  land,  "of  every  land  the  pride," 
could  not  but  awaken  in  him  strange  emotions. 
Without  attempting  to  endue  Mr.  Pawson  with 
the  gift  of  prophecy,  it  is  probable  that  he  might 
intimate  to  his  congregation,  that  he  had  sighed 
over  the  extreme  wickedness  of  the  wicked — 
having  been  touched  by  it — that,  from  the  poig- 
nancy of  his  feelings,  he  foreboded  some  mani- 
festation of  the  divine  displeasure — and  by 
way  of  improving  the  subject,  in  order  to  lead 

*  Strike,  a  bushel*.     In  ihn  west  of  Yorkshire,  :i  strike  is 
two  pecks  or  a  half  '    d  the  high  price  <>!  grain   it 

the  pi  ed    '".  when  poor  people  could  not  obtain 

d  half  bushel  for  a  half  guinea. 


152  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

ihe  dissolute  to  repentance,  prayer,  and  re- 
formation, might  lay  hold  of  passing  events  in 
such  a  way  as  to  lead  Samuel,  inapprehensive 
of  his  meaning,  and  not  taking  in  the  whole  of 
the  connecting  links  of  thought,  to  draw  the 
inference  stated. 

Samuel  returned  home  reflecting  on  what  he 
conceived  10  he  Mr.  Pawson's  view  of  the 
subject  ;  and  the  following  extract  will  show 
the  acuteness  of  his  feelings,  his  simplicity, 
and  his  piety.  "  I  began,"  says  he,  "  to  be 
very  miserable  ;  and  as  my  children  were  small. 
I  thought  it  would  he  a  sore  thing  for  them,  my 
wife,  and  myself  to  be  pined  to  death.  When 
I  got  home  I  went  into  my  closet  to  inquire  of 
the  Lord,  whether  there  would  be  a  famine  or 
no;  and  while  I  was  pleading  I  got  as  fair  an 
answer  from  the  Lord,  that  there  would  be  no 
famine,  as  when  he  pardoned  my  sins  and 
cleansed  my  soul.  I  saw  that  there  was  plenty 
of  corn  to  supply  till  harvest.  Hut  this  did  not 
satisfy  me.  I  told  my  wife  that  I  could  not  rest 
till  I  went  to  inform  the  preacher  that  there 
would  he  no  famine  in  our  land.  I  set  off  for 
Sturton  ;  and  when  I  got  there,  I  told  that  dear 
woman  ol  God,  Mrs.  Ward,  my  errand."  Here 
Mrs.  W.  very  properly  interposed,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  on  the  same  evening  after 
preaching — but  by  delicately  suggesting  the 
impropriety  there  would  be  in  his  "  pretending 
to  dictate  to  one  of  the  first  preachers  in  the 
connection."     But  Samuel  was  not  to  be  re- 


THE    VILLAGE    ISLACKSMITH.  153 

pulsed  by  either  first  or  second,  whether  the 
claim  instituted  referred  to  priority  of  lime  or 
superiority  of  talent.  He  had  his  one  argument 
at  hand — "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  ;"  and  pro- 
ceeds, "  I  told  her  not  to  blame  me,  for  it  was 
the  Lord  that  had  sent  me.  With  a  deal  to  do, 
she  let  me  into  the  room  ;  and  I  told  our  brother 
Pawson,  that  the  Lord  had  sent  me  to  inform 
him  that  there  would  be  no  famine  in  the  land." 
Mr.  Pawson,  whose  forebodings  were  scarcely 
removed,  replied,  "  Well,  brother,  I  shall  be 
very  thankful  to  the  Lord  to  find  it  not  so." 
Samuel,  taking  a  little  credit  for  the  correctness 
of  his  own  judgment  and  impression  in  the 
case,  and  still  firm  in  his  belief  in  the  actual 
prediction  of  a  famine,  adds,  "  So  we  see  how 
good  men  may  miss  their  way,  for  there  was 
no  famine."  To  persons  whose  feelings  are  not 
immediately  interested,  it  is  sometimes  amus- 
ing to  hear  well-meaning  men,  without  a  pro- 
phetic soul,  guessing  against  each  other  for 
their  Maker.  In  the  present  case,  Samuel's 
conduct  in  going  to  "  inquire  of  the  Lord," 
manifested  a  spirit  worthy  the  most  simple, 
the  purest,  the  best  part  of  patriarchal  times; 
and  as  they  were  chiefly  his  own  fears  that  had 
to  be  allayed,  the  impression  that  effected  their 
removal  was  so  far — all  prophecy  on  the  oc- 
casion apart — an  act  of  mercy — mercy  mani 
fested  in  the  exercise  of  prayer. 

He  availed  himself  of  this  supposed  pro- 
phetic failure  of  Mr.  Pawson,  February  28th, 
1826,  when  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Rev 


154      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

E.  Irving,  who  had  then  reached  the  acme  ol 
his  oratorical  attractions,  though  not  of  his 
theological  reveries,  and  who,  as  Samuel  had 
been  informed,  had  been  prognosticating  na- 
tional calamities,  because  of  national  wicked- 
ness. The  original,  which  is  in  the  writer's 
possession,  is  a  curiosity,  and  would,  if  printed 
as  it  flowed  from  his  pen,  exemplify  the  esti- 
mate given  of  his  mind  in  the  preceding  pages. 
With  the  exception  of  a  few  transpositions,  re- 
trenchments in  verbiage,  and  the  occasional 
substitution  of  a  word,  the  following  may  be 
considered  as  an  allowable  copy  : — 

"  Dear  Brother  Irving,  the  Prophet  in  London  . 
"  I  am  informed  that  you  have  prophesied 
that  this  island  is  bourn  to  come  to  desolation  ; 
but  I  think  you  should  put  a  condition  in  your 
prophecy,  viz.,  that  if  the  people  humble  them- 
selves, pray,  and  turn  from  their  wicked  ways, 
then  God  will  hear  from  heaven,  will  pardon 
their  sins,  and  will  heal  the  land.  When  the 
Prophet  Jonah  went  to  preach  at  Nineveh,  the 
whole  of  the  people  of  the  city  humbled  them- 
selves, and  prayed  to  ( Sod  ;  and  ( rod  heard  their 
prayer,  and  saved  them  from  destruction.  If 
there  had  been  ten  righteous  souls  in  the  cities 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  when  they  were 
destroyed,  in  which  there  were  so  many  thou- 
sands of  men,  women,  and  children,  they  would 
not  have  Buffered  :  and  I  fully  believe.,  that  if 
Abraham  had  pleaded  on,  the  Lord  would  have 
saved  the  cities  for  his   servant's   sake  ;   but  he 


THE    VlKLAor    BLACKSMITH.  155 

gave  up  pleading,  and  then  they  were  con- 
sumed. 

"  But  I  have  to  inform  you,  sir,  that  there  are 
more  than  ten  righteous  men  in  a  city  :  for  the 
little  one  has  become  a  thousand,  and  the  small 
one  a  strong  nation.  We  have  our  Moseses, 
and  our  Elijahs,  and  our  Daniels  in  our  island, 
who  are  all  pleading.  We  have  thousands  of 
children  training  up  to  fear  God  and  honour  the 
king ;  we  have  Bible  societies,  missionary 
meetings,  and  tract  societies.  These  four  in- 
stitutions are  the  Lord's ;  and  this  island  is 
the  Lord's  nursery,  in  which  he  raises  up  plants 
to  plant  the  gospel  in  all  the  world,  in  order  to 
be  a  witness  unto  all  nations.  Then  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  wicked  shall  come  to  an  end — all 
shall  know  the  Lord  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest — nations  shall  learn  war  no  more — and 
the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  ot 
God.  '       • 

"  The  pope  prophesied,  in  years  past  and 
gone,*  that  he  should  get  back  the  inheritance 
of  his  forefathers,  be  set  upon  the  British  throne, 
and  have  all  the  churches  restored:  butth* 
will  never  come  to  pass  ;  God  will  never  sufTei 
the  pope  to  govern  his  nursery  or  plantation. 
We  shall  be  governed  by  peaceable  governors. 

*  Samuel  met  with  a  man,  in  one  of  his  journeys,  who 
avowed  his  belief  in  the  Roman  Catholic  creed,  and  his  faith 
also  in  the  restoration  of  our  cathedrals  and  churches  to  the 
papal  state.  The  public  mind  was  considerably  agitated  at 
the  time  with  the  Catholic  question,  a.nd  the  impression  pro- 
duced by  both  led  him,  probably,  to  introduce  his  holiness  to 
Mr.  Irving. 


156  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

We  shall  have  peace  and  plenty.  The  year 
that  has  passed  has  been  a  plentiful  year  for 
temporal  food;  and  I  trust  before  we  see  the 
end  of  this  we  shall  find  it  to  have  been  one  of 
the  best  we  ever  had  for  spiritual  food — that 
many  will  be  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  God 
— and  that  we  shall  see  the  downfall  of  in- 
fidelity. 

"  I  have  known  good  men  miss  their  way  in 
my  day,  by  their  prophecies.  The  prophets 
foretold  that  there  should  be  wars  and  rumours 
of  wars  in  the  latter  days,  and  that  nation  should 
rise  up  against  nation.  These  prophecies  have 
been  fulfilled.  Nation  has  been  up  against 
nation.  There  has  been  such  destruction  as 
never  was  before.  But  these  days  were  to  be 
shortened  for  the  elect's  sake."  Then  follows 
his  account  of  what  he  denominated  Mr.  Paw- 
son's  prophecy,  appending  to  it  the  case  of 
another  person,  who,  he  observes,  "  prophesied 
that  our  island  would  be  covered  with  war  and 
bloodshed,"  and  as  a  precautionary  measure, 
"  took  his  family  to  America,  where  he  pur- 
chased a  large  estate.  But,"  continues  Samuel, 
"  these  were  foolish  prophecies,  and  false  pro- 
phets, and  I  firmly  believe  yours  will  prove  to 
be  like  them.  While  we  continue  to  honour 
God,  by  sending  the  gospel  to  the  poor  perish- 
ing heathen,  by  keeping  up  our  noble  Bible  and 
tract  societies,  and  Sunday  schools,  we  shall 
neither  have  pestilence  nor  famine,  nor  shall 
the  sword  be  permitted  to  go  through  the  land. 
And  although  there  is  at  present  a  great  stagna- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACK8MITH.  157 

tion  of  trade  and  commerce,  yet  there  is  a  re- 
medy lor  us,  on  certain  conditions.  It  is  not  a 
prophet,  nor  an  archangel,  but  the  God  that 
made  the  world,  and  all  that  therein  is,  who 
says,  '  If  I  shut  up  heaven  that  there  be  no  rain, 
or  if  I  send  a  pestilence,  if  my  people  that  is 
called  by  my  name  will  humble  themselves, 
and  turn  from  their  wicked  ways,  I  will  pardon 
their  sins,  and  will  heal  their  land.'  This  is  the 
case.  Persons  are  turning  from  their  sins  every 
day.  Judgment  is  mixed  with  mercy.  England 
is  one  of  the  first  islands  in  the  world.  We 
have  liberty  of  conscience — we  have  peace — 
and  1  hope  trade  and  commerce  will  again  re- 
vive, and  that  the  suffering  poor  will  have 
plenty  of  work,  to  enable  them  to  earn  bread 
for  their  families." 

There  is  not  the  slightest  intention  in  the 
writer  to  bring  the  "Village  Blacksmith''  into 
the  arena  of  controversy,  with  a  view  to  place 
him  in  polemic  array  against  Mr.  Irving  ;  nor 
need  Mr.  Irving  be  ashamed  of  the  association, 
as  a  few  of  Samuel's  positions  are  as  tenable 
as  some  of  those  with  which  he  has  favoured 
the  world  in  his  more  recent  publications. 
Proceeding  on  the  correctness  of  Samuel's  in- 
formation, which  is  only  assumed  for  the  oc- 
casion, his  suggestion  relative  to  the  propriety 
of  annexing  conditions  to  threatening,  and  the 
support  which  he  professes  to  derive  from  this 
suggestion  from  the  case  of  Nineveh,  is  worthy 
of  respect.  His  application  of  the  subject  to 
Britain,   which    he   illustrates  by  the   case  of 


158  THE    VILLAGE    R  LACK  SMITH 

Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  showing  the  superiority 
of  the  one  over  the  other — Britain  with  her 
multitude  of  intercessors  actually  engaged  at 
the  throne  of  grace,  her  Christian  philan- 
thropy, as  exhibited  in  her  institutions,  and 
probable  increase  of  conversions  to  God 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Sunday  schools 
— and  the  cities  of  the  plain  without  their  "ten 
righteous"  characters — deducing  from  the  whole 
the  probability  of  our  safety,  shows  that  he  was 
in  possession  of  correct  Scriptural  notions, 
though  they  often  radiated  in  different  direc- 
tions, like  so  many  scattered  rays  of  light,  be- 
ing unable  to  employ  them  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, and  therefore  not  always  falling  with  ful- 
ness on  the  point  to  he  illuminated.  The  act, 
too,  of  pressing  the  late  revolutionary  wars  into 
his  service,  which  he  considered  to  be  no  other 
than  the  "  rumours  of  wars"  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
ture, by  way  of  showing  the  difference  between 
ancient  and  modern  prophetic  pretensions — 
the  one  having  been  fulfilled,  and  the  other 
remaining  unaccomplished — and  his  attempt  to 
rescue  the  prevailing  commercial  distress  out 
of  .Mr.  [rving's  hands,  that  he  might  not  avail 
himself  of  it  in  support  of  his  predicted  judg- 
ments, intimate  a  quickness  of  intellect,  though 
unequal  to  that  which  precedes.  But  the  letter 
is  given  chiefly  with  a  view  to  show  the  manner 
in  which  his  thoughts  moved,  when  venturing 
beyond  the  precincts  of  a  lew  brief  sentences ; 
and  lor  this  purpose,  too,  as  well  as  that  of 
honouring  th<  of  his  heart,  his  address 


THE     VII. I.AC  i:     BLACKSMITH.  159 

to  his  majestv  George  III.  may  be  introduced. 
At  the  time  when  Bonaparte  threatened  to 
invade  England,  there  were  great  "  search; 
ings  of  heart."  Samuel  was  among  the  suf- 
ferers in  spirit.  When  fear  was  at  its  height, 
he  retired  into  the  fields,  Jike  the  prophet  to  the 
summit  of  a  solitary  mountain,  to  intercede  with 
his  Maker;  and  he  there  received  what  set  his 
OWO  mind  at  rest — an  assurance  that  our  shores 
would  never  he  either  printed  or  polluted  by 
the  fool  of  the  enemy.  From  that  period  he 
went  on  his  way  rejoicing,  and  in  the  strength 
of  his  confidence,  Ids  patriotic  and  loyal  feel- 
ing,  he  wrote  the  address  just  alluded  to,  the 
substance  of  which  is  as  follows  : — 

"  0  king,  live  for  ever !  Let  not  your  heart 
he  troubled,  nor  your  countenance  he  changed  ; 
for  that  God  whose  church  and  cause  you  have 
defended,  will  also  defend  you,  and  deliver  you 
from  the  linn  and  the  bear,  and  also  from  this 
uncircumeiscd  Philistine  ;  for  he  shall  never  set 
Ids  foot  upon  English  ground.  And  if  your 
majesty  the  king  wants  a  regiment  of  life- 
guards to  defend  your  person,  yaur  property,  or 
your  nation,  God  will  raise  them  up  from  tin 
church  of  Christ,  and  I  will  go  in  the  forefront 
and  like  Gideon's  army,  with  their  lamps  in 
pitchers,  one  of  these  will  chase  a  thousand, 
and  two  will  put  ten  thousand  to  flight.  And 
if  your  majesty  tin;  king  wants  any  money  to 
support  or  defend  your  person,  your  property, 
or  your  nation,  I  am  now  possessed  of  .£600, 
and  your  majesty  shall  have  every  shilling  of 


160  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

it.  When  I  began  the  world,  I  had  not  a 
penny,  nor  a  bite  of  bread  to  put  into  my  mouth, 
and  I  will  again  begin  the  world  as  naked  as  at 
first.  And  that  God  whom  I  love  and  serve 
will  never  suffer  the  crown  to  be  taken  from  the 
head  of  your  majesty,  till  he  shall  crown  you 
with  immortality  and  eternal  life." 

Whether  the  letter  ever  reached  his  majesty 
is  doubtful,  not  only  because  of  the  medium 
through  which  it  was  conveyed,  but  from  the 
known  character  of  that  venerable  monarch  ;  as 
it  is  more  than  probable,  that,  from  the  novelty 
of  the  occasion,  he  would  have  condescended, 
not  to  accept  the  offer,  but  to  pay  respect  to  the 
generous  emotions  which  emanated  from  the 
bosom  of  such  a  subject ;  and  the  more  so,  as 
the  name  of  Hick  was  not  unfamiliar  to  the 
royal  ear.  Samuel  had  a  brother-in-law,*  who 
was  groom  in  the  stables  at  Windsor,  and  to 
whom  his  majesty  paid  personal  attention. 
Having  been  absent  from  his  post  through  indis- 
position, his  majesty,  on  perceiving  it,  inquired, 
in  his  hasty  manner,  "  Where  is  Hick  ?  Where 
is  Hick?"  When  informed  that  he  was  ill, 
the  royal  inquiry  was,  "  Has  he  had  medical 
aid  ?"  instantly  adding,  "  if  not,  let  him  have  it 
immediately."  But  the  sufferer  died  ;  and  Mr. 
Dawson  observes,  "  I  have  been  informed,  that 
his  widow  was  the  object  of  his  majesty's  at- 
tention  and  bounty."  Samuel,  by  means  of  his 
brother-in-law,  had  acquired  that  knowledge  of 
his  majesty's  private  character  which  inspired 
*  His  wife's  brother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Hick 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  161 

him  with  veneration.  This  feeling  led  him  to 
Windsor,  during  his  last  visit  to  the  metropolis  : 
but  of  all  the  objects  presented  to  the  eye  of  a 
stranger,  nothing  fixed  his  attention  so  much 
as  the  house  of  his  God  ;  and  in  that  house,  not 
any  thing  yielded  such  rapture  as  the  cushion 
upon  which  the  royal  personage  had  been  ac- 
customed regularly  to  perform  his  devotional 
exercises.  On  that  cushion  Samuel  devoutly 
knelt,  and  as  he  could  throw  his  whole  soul 
into  that  prayer,  "  Give  the  king  thy  judg- 
ments, O  God ;"  so  he  could  as  heartily  add, 
"  and  thy  righteousness  unto  the  King's  son  :" 
and  hence  it  was,  that  when  George  III.  re- 
signed his  crown,  he  transferred  his  loyal  affec- 
tion to  George  IV. 

While  the  letter  shows  the  piety,  the  loyalty, 
and  the  liberality  of  its  writer,  together  with  the 
occasionally  beautiful  adaptation  of  Scriptural 
language  and  Scriptural  metaphor  to  the  sub- 
ject in  hand,  for  which  he  was  sometimes  so 
happy,  and  which,  in  some  instances,  could  not 
have  been  more  felicitously  introduced  by  our 
first  divines,  we  are  not  less  impressed  with 
his  contracted  views,  and  amused  with  his 
notions  of  generalship.  For  though  Roman 
history  has  familiarized  us  with  an  instance  of 
one  of  its  first  characters  having  been  sum- 
moned from  the  plough  to  figure  in  arms,  yet 
we  are  not  quite  prepared  to  see  Samuel  throw- 
ing aside  the  leathern  apron  for  regimentals — 
to  see  him  brandishing  the  sword,  heading  a 
troop  of  soldiers,  and  cutting  his  way  through 
11 


162  Till:    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  His  hand  was  better 
adapted  t<>  the  grasp  of  the  hammer  than  the 
rrusket,  and  his  heart — which  would  have 
sickened  at  cruelty  to  a  beetle — Avould  have 
sooner  led  him  to  heal  than  to  wound.  The 
estimate  he  formed  of  his  prowess  was  what 
would  have  suited  his  state  when  he  silenced 
the  clergyman  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Burdsall. 
He  would  now  have  much  sooner  stripped,  and 
turned  up  his  shirt  sleeves,  in  front  of  the  anvil, 
to  beat  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  spears 
into  pruning  hooks,  than  have  girded  himself  for 
the  fight :  and  it  is  questionable  whether  he  had 
any  intention  in  the  case,  besides  that  of  ap 
pearing  like  the  monks  of  Bangor  before  Ethel- 
frith,  accoutred,  not  with  "  carnal"  weapons, 
but  with  "  the  whole  armour  of  God,"  which, 
in  his  estimation,  was  more  fitted  for  "  the 
pulling  down  of  strung  holds,''  than  any  other 
instrument  that  could  be  invented,  whether  by 
a  Congreve  or  an  Archimedes.  If  he  had  any 
views  beyond  those  of  combating  the  assailants 
with  the  weapons  of  faith  and  prayer,  we  can 
only  marvel  at  the  difference  between  him  and 
John  Nelson,  whom  he  heard  preach  at  Aberfurd 
cross,  who,  when  impressed  for  a  soldier,  said  to 
those  who  were  decking  him  in  military  attire, 
"You  may  array  me  as  a  man  of  war,  but  I 
shall  never  light."  But  whether  Samuel  had 
taken  tin-  field  or  not,  he  would  have  given  the 
jCGOO  as  cheerfully  as  he  ever  gave  sixpence 
to  a  destitute  widow. 

Leaving   the    oreat  continental    field,  wher° 


THK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH^  163 

the  thunderbolt  of  war  was  seen  turning  up  the 
soil  like  a  ploughshare,  and  where  the  military 
tempest  appeared  to  be  gradually  clearing  the 
air  and  settling  the  political  atmosphere — with 
which  events  it  would  have  appeared  ridiculous 
to  name  such  an  insignificant  being  as  Samuel, 
had  it  not  been  for  his  loyal  address — we  shall 
direct  our  attention  to  a  slight  skirmish  of 
another  description,  nearer  his  own  homestead, 
and  see  how  he  was  skilled  in  the  military  tactics 
requisite  for  the  occasion.  "  I  remember,"  he 
observes,  "a  great  outpouring  of  the  Lord's 
Spirit  at  Ledstone,  near  where  I  resided  ;  and 
in  that  town  there  lived  a  parliament-man, 
who  was  a  justice  of  peace."  This  "  parlia- 
ment-man" was  no  other  than  Michael  Angelo 
Taylor,  Esq.,  who  has  distinguished  himself  in 
the  senate  on  several  measures  for  the  melio- 
ration of  the  metropolitan  police,  and  different 
other  questions.  One  evening  during  the  re- 
vival referred  to,  Mr.  T.  was  passing  the  place, 
which  was  licensed  for  preaching,  and  in  which 
the  people  were  met  for  public  worship.  On 
hearing  an  unusual  noise,  he  stepped  up  to  the 
door ;  and  not  being  over  and  above  skilled  in 
the  science  of  salvation,  or  having  his  ear 
tuned  for  the  music  of  penitential  groans,  he, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Samuel,  "  stamped 
and  swore,"  declaring  he  would  have  them 
"  all  taken  up,"  calling  out  meanwhile  for  a 
"  constable."*     Mr.  T.  addressed  a  farmer  who 

*  The  reader  is  referred  to  a  note  at  the  close  of  these 
pages  for  some  remarks  which  appeared   in  a   respectable 


164  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

acted  in  that  capacity,  and  told  him  he  would 
have  no  such  disturbance  in  the  parish.  A 
good  sister,  who  was  present,  began  to  pray 
for  Mr.  T.,  repeating  several  times,  "  Lord, 
bless  him."  Mr.  T.,  on  the  other  hand,  elevat- 
ing his  voice  to  an  unusual  pitch,  told  her  to 
cease  her  noise  :  "  but  she,"  says  Samuel,  "  like 
the  blind  man,  cried  out  the  more."  Mr.  T., 
however,  at  length  succeeded  in  "  breaking  up 
the  meeting."  This  was  a  severe  trial  to 
Samuel,  who  says,  "  I  went  home,  but  could 
get  very  little  rest.  The  next  morning  I  went 
to  our  class-leader,  and  told  him  that  I  could 
not  rest  till  I  went  to  Mr.  T.  to  inform  him  he 
had  broken  the  laws  of  our  land."  His  class- 
leader  was  Mr.  Rhodes,  who,  partly  to  deter 
Samuel,  from  an  impression  of  the  possibility  of 
the  case,  hinted  that  Mr.  T.  would  commit  him 
to    the  house   of  correction.     Samuel  replied, 

periodical,  a  few  years  back,  when  the  writer  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  defend  the  same  cause  from  an  attack  made  upon 
it,  in  an  article  in  the  "  British  Critic,"  and  also  in  a  separate 
treatise,  written  professedly  against  the  Wcsleyan  body. 
The  closing  observations,  which  have  been  since  added, 
may  not  be  characterized  by  that  gravity  which  a  more 
solemn  and  literary  biographical  subject  would — to  pre- 
serve it  in  proper  keeping — have  demanded;  but  being  in 
character  in  these  pages,  it  has  been  judged  proper  to  in- 
sert them.  The  writer,  however,  wishes  it  not  to  be  under- 
stood, that  he  comes  forward  as  the  advocate  of  noise,  but 
rather  as  an  apologitt  and  expositor;  for  though  he  would 
find  it  difficult,  in  every  instance,  to  tune  Ins  own  ear  to  a 
love  of  adverse  Bounds,  lie  thinks  that  Ins  feelings  ought  to 
be  under  the  guidance  of  Ins  judgment — that  the  subject  has 

ocen  much  misunderstood — ami  that  great  forbearance  is 
due  to  inexperience,  or,  in  other  words,  to  religious  child- 
hood 


tmk   \ii.i.a»;k   blacksmith.  165 

"  I  have  tho  Lord  on  my  side,  and  the  law  on 
my  side,  and  I  do  not  iVar  the  face  of  a  man." 
His  firmness  gave  confidence  to  Mr.  Rhodes, 
who  agreed  to  accompany  him.  They  both  set 
off,  and  arriving  at  Mr.  TVs  before  he  had  come 
down  stairs  in  the  morning,  were  ushered  into 
the  "  servants'  hall."  There  they  remained, 
till  summoned  into  the  presence-chamber.  Mr. 
T.,  on  descending  to  breakfast,  had  been  in- 
formed of  their  visit.  On  entering  the  room, 
he  had,  says  Samuel,  "  a  very  stormy  counte- 
nance." The  substance  of  the  conversation, 
as  left  on  record,  is  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  T.  "  Well,  Hick,  what  do  you  want  ?" 
Samuel.  "  I  want,  if  you  please,  to  worship 
God  under  my  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  no  man 
daring  to  make  me  afraid,  or  disturb  me  in  the 
worship  of  God.  And,  sir,  I  am  come  to  in- 
form you,  as  one  of  his  majesty's  peace-makers, 
that  last  night  you  broke  the  laws  of  the  land, 
and  that  the  law  stands  in  force  against  you. 
But  we,  as  a  body  of  people,  do  not  love  law. 
We  are  determined,  however,  to  have  the 
liberty  our  king  grants  us.  The  place  which 
we  were  worshipping  in  is  from  the  king,  as  it 
is  licensed  :  and  1  believe  there  is  a  double 
penalty  for  your  breaking  the  law." 

Mr.  T.  "  I  know  you  very  well ;  you  are  in 
the  habit  of  travelling  from  place  to  place  to 
preach  :  but  1  have  the  outline  of  a  bill,  which 
will  be  brought  into  parliament,  and  which  will 
at  once  put  a  stop  to  all  such  fellows,  and  pre- 
vent them  from  going  about.     I  will  make  you 


166  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

remain  in  your  own  parish,  and  go  to  your  own 
church." 

Samuel.  "  Bless  the  Lord  !  sir,  you  cannot 
slop  us.  It  is  the  work  of  God  ;  and  unless 
you  can  prevent  the  sun  from  shining,  you  can- 
not stop  it.  You  say  you  will  make  us  go  to 
our  own  parish  church.  It  is  more  than  three 
miles  off.  It  is  true,  we  have  a  chapel  of  ease  ; 
hut  the  minister  comes  to  it  only  twice  in  the 
year  :  and  we  cannot  live,  sir,  with  such  food 
as  this  :"  that  is,  with  so  small  a  portion. 

Mr.  T.  "  What,  have  you  only  two  sermons 
preached  in  the  year?" 

Samuel.  "  No,  sir;  and  he  would  not  come 
then,  only  he  cannot  get  his  Easter  dues  with- 
out coming." 

Here  the  servant  in  attendance,  and  Air. 
Rhodes,  could  support  it  no  longer,  but  burst 
into  a  fit  of  laughter,  and  left  the  room.  Mr. 
Taylor,  who  appeared  not  to  have  known  that 
the  place  was  licensed  in  which  he  was  the 
night  before,  and  to  have  assumed  the  character 
of  sternness  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  Samuel 
out  into  conversation,  called  upon  Mr.  Rhodes 
to  enter  the  room  again,  asking  why  he  went 
out.  Mr.  It.  apologized,  and  stated,  that  he 
could  not  refrain  from  laughing,  and  withdrew 
to  avoid  a  breach  of  good  behaviour.  Mr.  T. 
accosting  him,  said,  "  You  know,  Mr.  Rhodes, 
the  old  man  wants  a  license  to  preach.  This 
I  cannot  grant  in  my  individual  capacity.  But 
he  and  you  may  go  to  Bradford  next  Thursday  ; 
ask  for  the  clerk  of  the  court,  and  tell  him  you 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  167 

want  a  license  for  a  dissenting  minister.  He 
will  there  receive  it ;  and  if,  after  that,  any  one 
should  disturb  either  of  you,  inform  me,  and  I 
will  defend  you."  This  was  too  much  for 
Samuel  to  bear  in  silence  ;  and  without  suffer- 
ing Mr.  R.  to  reply,  he  permitted  that  chord 
of  the  heart  which  had  just  been  struck,  to  give 
out  its  fullest  and  wildest  tones,  saluting  Mr.  T. 
with,  "  Bless  the  Lord  !  they  give  you  a  sore 
character  in  our  country,  but  I  think  you  are 
not  so  bad  as  they  say  you  are."  This,  by  a 
thousand  men,  would  have  been  taken,  as  it 
might  have  been  given,  as  an  insult.  But  Mr. 
T.,  as  he  knew  Samuel,  had  the  good  sense  to 
give  to  it  its  real  value,  and  passed  it  off  in 
pleasantry.  "  After  this,"  proceeds  Samuel, 
"  I  believe  he  would  have  granted  me  any  favour. 
He  sent  down  to  the  farmer  also,  in  whose 
house  the  meeting  was  held,  and  told  him,  if  he 
was  in  want  of  any  thing  from  his  house  or 
gardens,  it  should  be  at  his  service.  So  we 
see,  when  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord,  he 
makes  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him." 

Samuel  went  too  far  in  considering  Mr.  T. 
an  enemy ;  for  had  he  really  been  such,  he 
would  have  pursued  a  different  line  of  conduct. 
Simple,  however,  as  the  whole  of  this  occur- 
rence was,  sufficient  matter  arose  out  of  it  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  British  senate  ;  for  as 
the  "  two  sermons"  per  annum,  in  a  "  chapel  of 
ease,"  led,  from  the  easy  character  of  the  labour, 
to  an  investigation  of  other  instances  of  gross 
neglect,  so  it  gave   Mr.  T.  an   opportunity  of 


165  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

stating  in  the  house  the  necessity  there  was  for 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities  to  inquire,  whether 
the  different  places  belonging  to  the  establishment 
were  properly  supplied  with  religious  instruct- 
ed, noticing  the  case  of  which  he  was  in- 
formed by  Samuel,  arguing  from  thence,  that  it 
was  not  to  be  wondered  that  a  "  blacksmith," 
in  Yorkshire,  should  apply  to  him  for  a  license 
to  authorize  him  to  preach  as  a  dissenting  minis- 
ter. When  one  of  the  newspapers  was  handed 
to  Samuel,  in  which  the  fact  was  stated,  and 
the  allusion  made,  he  was  not  a  little  elated, 
and  in  his  simplicity  could  even  connect  with 
the  circumstance,  in  a  way  in  which  no  one 
besides  himself  could  do,  the  "  government 
churches,"  which  were  soon  afterward  erected, 
and  would  have  as  soon — for  such  was  his 
knowledge  of  the  politics  and  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  day — attributed  every  new  edifice 
to  that,  as  to  any  other  cause.  Though  some 
of  these  goodly  structures  were  not  very  well 
attended,  he  was  far  from  viewing  them  as 
useless  :  "  They  will  be  ready,"  said  he,  "  for 
the  millennium,  when  it  comes  ;  for  we  shall 
want  them  then  :"  not  that  he  really  wished 
any  other  religious  body  to  enjoy  them  ;  but  he 
was  confident  they  were  not  erected  in  vain. 
He  generally  spoke  respectfully  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  indulged  a  pleasing  hope  that 
she  would  rise  to  be  more  holy,  active,  and 
useful,  than  she  had  ever  been. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  169 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

His  power  in  prayer — Divine  impressions — An  afflicting 
providence  — Remarkable  answers  to  prayer— Familiar  ex 
prossioiis  in  prayer  to  be  avoided — Encounters  a  blacksmith 
—  His  usefulness — His  meekness  under  persecution — Sin- 
gular method  of  self-defence  against  the  aspersions  of  a 
clergyman — Musical  festivals — Mr.  Bradlmm — Lovefeast— 
Perfect  ion — Seasonable  remarks — The  doctrine  of  sancti- 
lication  maintained  in  opposition  to  a  clergyman — Cheerful 
disposition— Indiscretionatc  zeal  in  a  meeting  of  the  Society 
of  Friends. 

That  which  imparled  real  elevation  of  cha- 
racter to  Samuel  was,  his  strong  faith,  and  his 
power  with  God  in  prayer:  and  here  it  is  that 
lie  was  seen  rising  out  of  the  habiliments  of  the 
blacksmith,  surrounded  by  the  visitants,  stunned 
with  the  din,  and  enveloped  in  the  smoke  of  the 
smithy,  like  a  being  belonging  to  another  world, 
gradually  unfolding  himself,  or  suddenly  break- 
ing upon  the  spectators  in  the  true  spirit  of  an 
an«el  of  light.  A  few  instances  have  been  ad- 
duced of  his  power  in  prayer  on  his  own  be- 
half; but  he  still  has  to  be  viewed  in  the  cha- 
racter of  a  successful  intercessor. 

He  had  an  impression  upon  his  mind  one 
day,  that  he  ought  to  go  to  the  coal-pit,  for 
what  he  termed  "  a  load  of  sleek."*  But  hav- 
ing a  tolerable  stock  in  the  smithy,  he  hesitated 
and  attempted  to  suppress  it.  The  impression 
was  renewed,  and — "  Go,  go,"  was  reiterated, 
as  by  a  voice  from   within.     "  I'll  pray  about 

*  The  rcfuso  or  smaller  part  of  tho  coal,  used  in  fur- 
naces, &c. 


170  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

it," said  he  to  himself.  But  "go"  was  still  the 
language  which  he  seemed  to  hear,  while  en- 
gaged upon  his  knees.  He  rose  and  told  his 
wife  he  was  going  for  a  load  of  "  sleek."  She, 
as  was  natural,  opposed  him,  pointing  to  the 
heap  in  the  smithy,  as  a  substantial  reason  why 
he  should  stop  at  home.  But  his  argument  was 
in  his  heart,  and  to  this  he  attended,  yoking 
the  horse  to  the  cart,  and  driving  off  to  the  pit, 
without  any  thing  to  support  his  conduct,  ex- 
cept the  naked  impression  specified.  On  reach- 
ing the  spot,  a  person  exclaimed,  in  a  state  of 
great  trepidation,  "  Ay,  Sammy,  you  are  well 
come  ;  such  a  one  (mentioning  the  person's 
name)  has  been  nearly  killed,  and  we  want 
you  to  pray  with  him!"  The  poor  sufferer  had 
just  been  brought  up  from  the  pit,  when  he 
arrived ;  and  the  persons  around  him  were 
about  to  extract  a  piece  of  wood,  which  had 
fallen  upon  him,  penetrated  his  shoulder,  and 
forced  its  way,  like  the  spear  of  Abner,  through 
the  opposite  side  of  his  body.  On  perceiving 
their  intentions  from  their  conduct,  Samuel  said, 
in  a  hurried  tone,  "  Do  not  take  it  out;  if  you 
do,  he  will  die  in  a  moment."*     The  spirit  of 

*  How  he  became  possessed  of  this  opinion,  or  whether 
lie  had  entertained  it  any  length  of  time,  is  difficult  to  state; 
but  it  is  not  a  little  singular  to  find,  that  it  is  in  consonance 
with  the  notions  and  practices  of  some  of  our  ancestors,  who, 
in  tournaments  and  ancient  combats,  frequently  permitted 
the  shaft  of  death,  which  had  been  propelled  through  the 
body,  to  remain  there  for  a  short  time,  with  a  view  to  stanch 
the  blood  to  a  certain  extent — when  the  wound  was  deemed 
mortal,  till  the  person  should  be  enabled  to  express  his  last 
will  in  the  setllemont  of  his  affairs. 


TIIK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  1?] 

prayer  was  the  element  in  which  he  breathed  ; 
and  for  such  employment  he  was  always  ready. 
He  knelt  by  the  side  of  the  poor  man,  wrestled 
with  God  for  his  salvation,  and  obtained  satis- 
factory evidence  of  an  answer  to  the  petitions 
he  presented  at  the  throne  of  grace.  "  I  now 
saw,"  says  he,  "  for  what  it  was  that  I  had  to 
go  to  the  pit."  And  yet,  with  this  result,  there 
are  persons  professing  the  Christian  name  who 
would  denounce  the  impression  as  enthusiastic, 
and  who*would,  together  with  the  calamity,  in- 
sert his  being  at  the  pit  at  that  precise  period 
in  the  chapter  of  accidents,  which  occupies,  in 
their  estimation,  so  large  a  share  of  the  business 
of  human  life.  Only  preserve  religion  in  the 
back  ground,  or  abstract  it  entirely  from  the 
subject,  and  these  persons  will  talk  both 
seriously  and  poetically  of  the  mind  being 
darkened,  like  the  sunny  landscape,  by  a  sudden 
cloud,  auguring  a  coming  tempest :  and  of  such 
impulses  deserving  attention  as  being  the  hints 
of  our  guardian  spirits  that  danger  is  impending. 
All  this  is  allowable  in  verse,  and  the  poet  is 
admired  for  the  sentiment  ;  while  the  heathen 
philosopher  is  permitted  to  descant  upon  it  in 
prose :  but  the  moment  the  man  of  God  asserts 
the  fact — from  whom  the  others  have  received 
it,  either  directly  or  remotely,  and  afterward 
marred  by  lowering  it — he  must  be  sent  through 
the  world  with  the  brand  of  an  enthusiast  upon 
his  forehead ! 

A  circumstance  not  less  remarkable  occurred 
at  Pontefract — a  place  where  Samuel  was  highly 


172  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

tespected,  and  where  he  deeply  interested  him- 
self in  the  erection  of  a  new  chapel.  It  was 
agreed,  in  order  to  aid  the  collection  at  the 
opening,  that  each  collector  should  deposite  a 
sovereign  in  his  box,  and  that  the  collectors 
should  be  changed  each  service.  Samuel  en- 
tered into  the  plan  with  his  native  ardour,  and 
promoted,  in  various  instances,  its  accomplish- 
ment. On  recollecting  the  names  of  friends., 
who  were  likely  to  afford  aid,  he  immediately 
proceeded  to  their  residences,  and  "accosted 
them  :  "  Why,  the  friends  are  bourn  to  open  a 
new  chapel  in  Pontefract  :  you  intend  to  be 
there,  don't  you,  and  to  be  a  collector  ?"  To 
this  exordium,  he  appended.the  plan,  closing  it 
with  a  personal  application, — "  You  approve  of 
't,  don't  you  ?"  In  cases  of  approval,  accom- 
panied with  a  doubt,  whether  there  would  be  an 
opportunity  to  attend,  he  generally  relieved 
them,  by  observing,  "  I  will  tell  you  what  you 
must  do  ;  you  must  give  me  a  sovereign,  and  I 
will  get  some  one  to  collect  for  you."  Such 
was  his  success,  by  this  mode  of  procedure, 
that,  on  the  day  of  opening,  he  handed  over  to 
the  treasurer  nearly  twenty  pounds.  On  the 
morning,  he  took  his  seat  previous  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  service  in  a  pew  near  the 
pulpit.  He  had  promised  himself  much  enjoy- 
ment, and  was  just  sipping  of  its  streams,  while 
glancing  upon  the  collecting  worshippers, 
when  he  suddenly  became  unaccountably  dis- 
composed. He  vacated  his  seat,  and  taking 
up  his  hat,  directed  his  stops  to    the  gallery, 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  173 

where  he  placed  himself  by  the  side  of  a  young 
lady  in  one  of  the  front  pews.  It  was  instantly 
suggested,  "  Thou  hast  done  it  now, — perched 
in  the  front  for  every  body  to  look  at  thee, — 
they  will  think  it  is  nothing  but  pride  that  has 
led  thee  here."  The  chapel  was  now  exceed- 
ingly crowded  ;  and  no  sooner  was  his  soliloquy 
ended,  than  the  congregation  was  thrown  into 
a  state  of  the  utmost  confusion  by  an  unfounded 
alarm  respecting  the  safety  of  the  building.  The 
young  lady  who  sat  next  him  leaped  on  the  top 
of  the  pew,  and  was  in  the  act  of  precipitating 
herself  into  the  body  of  the  chapel,  when 
Samuel,  with  a  promptitude  equalled  only  by 
his  composure,  prevented  her,  by  taking  her  in 
his  arms,  exhorting  her  at  the  same  time  to  "  be 
still,"  saying,  "  I  would  rather  die  in  a  Methodist 
chapel  than  anywhere  else."  He  now  saw 
as  in  the  case  of  the  poor  collier,  a  reason  for 
the  feeling  which  induced  him  to  leave  his 
first  seat,  and  occupy  another  of  such  pro- 
minence. An  immortal  spirit  was  in  all  proba- 
bility saved,  in  the  first  instance,  from  perdition  ; 
human  life,  in  the  second,  from  a  premature 
grave.  The  female  is  still  living,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Wesleyan  Society. 

In  the  course  of  a  summer  of  excessive 
drought,  a  few  years  back,  when  the  grain 
suffered  greatly,  and  many  of  the  cattle,  es- 
pecially in  Lincolnshire,  died,  Samuel  was 
much  affected.  He  visited  Knaresborough,  at 
which  place  he  preached  on  the  Lord's  day. 
Remaining    in   the    town    and   neighbourhood 


174  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

over  the  sabbath,  he  appeared  extremely  rest- 
less in  the  house  in  which  he  resided,  during 
the  whole  of  Monday.  He  spoke  but  little — 
was  full  of  thought — now  praying — now  walk- 
ing about  the  room — next  sitting  in  a  crouching 
posture — then  suddenly  starting  up,  and  going 
to  the  door,  turning  his  eyes  toward  heaven,  as 
if  looking  for  some  celestial  phenomenon — 
when  he  would  again  return — groan  in  spirit — 
and  resume  his  seat.  The  family,  being  im- 
pressed with  his  movements,  asked  him  whether 
any  thing  was  the  matter  with  him,  or  whether 
he  expected  any  person,  as  the  occasion  of  his 
going  to  the  door  so  frequently.  <:  Bless  you, 
barns,"  was  his  reply,  "  do  you  not  recollect 
that  I  was  praying  for  rain  last  night  in  the 
pulpit  ?  and  what  will  the  infidels  at  Knares- 
borough  think,  if  it  do  not  come  ?  if  my  Lord 
should  fail  me,  and  not  stand  by  me  ?  But  it 
must  have  time  :  it  cannot  be  here  yet ;  it  has 
to  come  from  the  sea.  Neither  can  it  be  seen 
at  first ;  the  prophet  only  saw  a  bit  of  cloud, 
like  a  man's  hand  :  by  and  by  it  spread  along 
the  sky.  I  am  looking  for  an  answer  to  my 
prayer — but  it  must  have  time."  He  continued 
in  the  same  unsettled  state — occasionally  going 
out,  and  looking  with  intensity  on  the  pure 
azure  over  his  head ;  for  a  more  unclouded 
heaven  was  rarely  ever  seen.  Contrary  to  all 
external  signs  of  rain,  and  contrary  to  the  ex- 
pectations of  all,  except  himself,  the  sky  be- 
came overcast  toward  evening,  and  the  clouds 
dropped  the  fatness  of  a  shower  upon  the  earth 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  175 

His  very  soul  seemed  to  drink  in  the  falling 
drops.  The  family  grouped  around  him,  like 
children  around  their  father,  while  he  gave  out 
his  favourite  hymn — "  I'll  praise  my  Maker 
while  I've  breath  ;"  and  after  singing  it  with  a 
countenance  all  a-glow  through  the  sunshine  of 
heaven  upon  his  soul,  he  knelt  down  and  prayed. 
All  were  overpowered  :  it  was  a  season  of  re- 
freshing from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

If  this  relation  had  concerned  another  man 
than  the  subject  of  the  memoir,  the  biographer 
would  have  been  incredulous  enough  to  have  sus- 
pended his  judgment, — possibly  to  have  doubted, 
— and  would  have  been  led  to  inquire,  whether, 
by  some  particular  signs,  the  person  might  not 
have  prognosticated  a  change.  But  Samuel 
was  too  artless  to  be  suspected — too  sincere  to 
practise  impositions — and  his  knowledge  was 
too  circumscribed  to  subject  him  to  the  charge 
of  being  "  weather-wise."  He  was  unable  to 
see  so  far  as  Columbus,  who,  in  another  case, 
astonished  and  preserved  a  portion  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  new  world  in  awe,  by  being 
able  to  foretel,  through  his  astronomical  know- 
ledge, a  meteorological  appearance.  Samuel 
had  no  weather-glass  upon  which  to  look  ex- 
cept the  Bible,  in  which  he  was  taught  to  be- 
lieve and  expect  that  for  which  he  prayed ; 
nothing  on  which  he  could  depend  but  God, 
and  his  faith  was  set  in  God  for  rain.  This 
like  some  other  instances  which  have  been 
noticed,  is  a  beautiful  exemplification  of  the 
simplicity  of  Christianity,  as  it  exists  in  its  effects 


176  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

in  an  uncultivated  mind  ;  the  person  receiving 
every  fact  of  Scripture  history  as  an  undoubted 
truth  of  God,  given  for  the  encouragement,  the 
conviction,  and  the  instruction  of  all  future  ages, 
whether  it  refers  to  the  improvement  of  the 
mass  of  mankind,  or  the  individual. 

In  perfect  character  with  the  preceding  re- 
markable fact,  connected  with  the  element  of 
water,  is  another,  respecting  the  element  of  air, 
both  of  which  may  yet  be  attested  by  living  wit- 
nesses; and  which  ought  not  to  be  beyond  the 
reach  of  credibility,  if  we  believe  there  is  a 
God — that  he  has  power  over  the  works  of  his 
own  hands — and  that  he  employs  the  elements, 
not  only  as  general  sources  of  felicity,  but  on 
particular  occasions  unbinds  them  in  their  opera- 
tions, and  lets  them  loose  upon  man,  either  as  a 
special  blessing  or  a  special  scourge,  in  order 
to  prevent  common  good  from  being  looked  upon 
with,  an  eye  of  indifference.  Samuel  was  at 
Knottingly.a  populous  village  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Ferrybridge,  in  1817,  where  he  took 
occasion  to  inform  his  hearers,  that  there  woidd 
be  a  love-feast  at  Micklefield,  on  a  certain  day, 
when  he  should  be  glad  to  see  all  who  were 
entitled  to  that  privilege.  He  further  observed, 
with  his  usual  frankness  and  generosity,  that  he 
had  two  loads*  of  corn,  and  that  they  should  bo 
ground  for  the  occasion.  These  comprised  the 
whole  of  the  corn  left  of  the  previous  year's 
produce.     When,  therefore,  he  returned  home, 

*  A  load  of  corn  at  Mickloficld,  signifies  six  strokes,  01 
Uiree  bushels. 


THE     VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  177 

and  named  his  general  invitation  and  intention, 
Martha,  who  had  as  deep  an  interest  in  it  as 
himself,  inquired  very  expressively :  "  And 
didst  thou  tell  them,  when  all  the  corn  was 
done,  how  we  were  to  get  through  the  remainder 
of  the  season,  till  another  crop  should  be 
reaped  ?"  "  To-tnorrow,"  alas  !  rarely  entered 
into  Samuel's  calculations,  unless  connected 
with  the  church.  The  day  fixed  for  the  love- 
feast  drew  near — there  was  no  flour  in  the 
house — and  the  wind-mills,  in  consequence  of 
a  long  calm,  stretched  out  their  arms  in  vain  to 
catch  the  rising  hreoze.  In  the  midst  of  this 
death-like  quiet,  Samuel  carried  his  corn  to  the 
mill  nearest  his  own  residence,  and  requested 
the  miller  to  unfurl  his  sails.  The  miller 
objected,  stating  that  there  was  "  no  wind." 
Samuel,  on  the  other  hand,  continued  to  urge 
his  request,  saying,  "  I  will  go  and  pray  while 
you  spread  the  cloih."  More  with  a  view  of 
gratifying  the  applicant  than  of  any  faith  he 
had  in  Him  who  holds  the  natural  winds  in  his 
fists,  and  who  answers  the  petitions  of  his 
creatures,  the  man  stretched  his  canvass.  No 
sooner  had  he  done  this,  than,  to  his  utter  as- 
tonishment, a  fine  breeze  sprung  up — the  fans 
whirled  around — the  corn  was  converted  into 
meal — and  Samuel  returned  with  his  burden, 
rejoicing,  and  had  every  thing  in  readiness  for 
the  festival.  A  neighbour  who  had  seen  the 
fans  in  vigorous  motion,  took  also  some  corn  to 
be  ground  ;  but  the  wind  had  dropped,  and  the 
miller  remarked  to  him,  "  You  must  send  for 
12 


178      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

Sammy   Hick   to   pray   for   the  wind    to   blow 
again." 

Few  circumstances,  perhaps,  can  be  adduced, 
more  characteristic  of  Samuel,  than  a  remark 
which  he  made  in  reference  to  the  man  who 
"  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  and 
fell  among  thieves.'"  After  commenting  on  the 
situation  of  the  poor  sufferer — for  all  was  real 
history  to  Samuel,  he  glanced  at  the  conduct  of 
the  Priest,  the  Levite,  and  the  Samaritan. 
Speaking  particularly  of  the  priest,  he  endea- 
voured to  apologize  for  him  as  far  as  he  con- 
scientiously could,  by  intimating  that  he  might 
have  been  "  poor,"  in  consequence  of  priests 
not  having  such  "  big  livings"  then,  as  in  the 
present  day.  Turning  at  length,  however, 
upon  his  piety,  he  quaintly  and  pointedly  re- 
marked, "  Bad  as  the  Levite  was,  the  priest 
was  the  worst  of  the  two  ;  for  admitting  him  to 
have  been  without  money,  he  might  have  said 
to  the  wounded  man,  '  Come,  we'll  have  a  bit 
of  prayer  together  !'  "  There  is  a  volume  con- 
tained in  this  single  sentence,  on  the  habit  of 
devotion,  which  Samuel  constantly  carried 
about  with  him  ;  and  had  it  been  a  scene  of  real 
life,  and  himself  one  of  the  actors,  he  would 
have  been  seen  sidling  up  to  the  sufferer, 
whether  on  the  highway  or  at  the  market-cross, 
— afterward  devoutly  kneeling — and  with  up- 
lifted hands  and  heart,  pleading  with  the  Most 
High  for  healing  and  strength. 

1 1  is  prayers  were  not  restricted  to  man.  He 
paw  as  j^reat  propriety  in  praying  for  the  resto- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  179 

ration  of  cattle  that  might  be  afflicted  with  any 
particular  distemper,  as  in  soliciting  the  divine 
blessing  upon  the  fruits  of  the  field,  and  the 
seasons  of  the  year.  Thus  it  was,  on  a  par- 
ticular occasion,  that  he  associated  his  own 
horse  with  the  cow  of  a  friend,  in  his  devo- 
tions, both  of  which  were  unwell ; — in  every 
thing i  in  supplication  and  prayer,  making  his 
request  known  to  the  Lord. 

There  were  instances,  however,  of  familiarity 
of  expression,  which,  though  not  criminal  in 
him,  ought  to  be  avoided  ;  and  also  something 
in  his  manner,  which  was  calculated  to  disturb 
the  solemnities  of  domestic  worship  He  was 
in  a  friend's  house,  where  he  was  introduced  to 
the  company  of  a  minister,  the  Rev.  A.  L.,  who, 
he  had  heard,  was  paying  his  addresses  to  a 
young  lady,  and  to  Mr.  U.,  a  solicitor.  On  Mr. 
U.'s  name  and  profession  being  announced,  he 
looked  askance  at  him,  as  upon  an  object  for 
which  he  might  be  charged  for  the  bestowment 
of  a  passing  glance,  quickly  turning  away  his 
head,  and  muttering,  "  Hem,  a  torney .'"  He 
was  soon  absorbed  in  thought ;  and  when  urged 
to  help  himself  to  a  glass  of  wine,  he  took  it  up, 
and,  on  applying  it  to  his  lip,  as  if  the  appari- 
tion of  Mr.  U.  had  shot  quickly  past  him,  he 
said,  "  From  tornics  and  lawyers,  good  Lord, 
deliver  us !"  Mr.  U.,  who  knew  to  what  re- 
flections the  profession  was  subject,  avoided  any 
observation.  The  case,  however,  was  not  dis- 
missed :  Samuel  was  called  upon  to  go  to 
prayer.      After    generalizing    his    petitions    he 


180  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

took  up  each  case  separately,  praying  that  Mr. 
A.  L.  might  be  happy  enough  to  obtain  "  a  good 
wife,"  as  the  marriage  state  was  "  the  best." 
He  next  prayed  for  the  conversion  of  Mr.  U., 
saying,  "  Lord,  save  this  torney.  What  he  is 
thou  knowest, — I  know  not ;  but  when  he  is 
saved,  he  will  not  charge  folk  so  much  money 
for  their  jobs.  Thou  hast  saved  an  attorney  at 
Longpreston,  and  he  gets  as  good  a  living  as 
any  of  them.  Lord,  save  this  man."  After 
this,  he  proceeded  to  pray  for  the  family,  min- 
gling, as  is  too  often  the  case,  rebuke,  exhorta- 
tion. Sj-c.,  with  prayer.  This  is  not  the  most 
"  excellent  way  :"  besides,  coicards  very  often 
avail  themselves,  under  the  guise  of  devotion,  of 
letting  off  their  bad  feeling  against  their  fellow 
Christians  in  this  "  way,"  by  praying  at  them, 
instead  of  supplicating  mercy  for  them.  In 
Samuel,  it  was  a  weakness  inseparable  from 
his  nature.  Ill  will  had  no  place  in  him;  and 
his  native  courage  never  failed  him,  as  the 
following  circumstance  goes  to  prove. 

A  person  of  his  own  trade,  who  resided  a 
few  miles  from  Howden,  entered  the  place 
where  he  was  preaching,  in  a  state  of  inebria- 
tion, and  made  some  disturbance.  Samuel, 
and  some  of  the  people,  expostulated  with  him, 
but  without  effecting  any  good  end.  Finding 
that  gentle  means  failed,  he  went  up  to  bin;, 
and  by  his  own  masculine  grasp,  forced  him  to 
the  door.  But  this,  alas  !  was  a  greater  expen- 
diture of  peace,  than  a  display  of  strength. 
He  felt  "  something  wrong  within,"  he  observed, 


THE    Vn.LAuK    I!  LACK  s.MT,  H.  181 

and  could  find  no  rest,  on  his  return  from  wor- 
ship. He  made  his  case  known  to  God,  and 
wrestled — as  though  he  had  been  the  greater 
criminal  of  the  two — till  he  recovered  his  peace. 
This  being  obtained,  he  retired  to  sleep.  The 
subject,  however,  was  not  dismissed  from  his 
mind.  When  he  rose  in  the  morning,  he  found 
that  he  could  not  be  perfectly  composed  in  his 
spirit,  till  he  went  to  the  man,  to  ask  pardon ; 
for  though  he  had  settled  the  dispute  between 
God  and  his  conscience,  he  knew  there  was 
something  due  to  the  sinner,  who  might  draw 
unfavourable  inferences  from  his  example.  The 
man  was  ashamed  of  his  conduct,  and  could 
not  but  admire  the  spirit  of  Samuel,  who  em- 
braced the  opportunity  of  seriously  conversing 
with,  and  praying  for  him.  Not  only  were  good 
impressions  made  upon  the  mind  of  the  ag- 
gressor, but  his  wife,  who  was  under  deep 
conviction  of  sin,  entered,  during  that  prayer, 
into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 
When  he  only  was  concerned,  and  the  in- 
terruption of  others  was  out  of  the  question, 
Samuel  could,  on  the  other  hand,  sustain  any 
hardship,  any  insult,  with  exemplary  meekness 
and  forbearance  ;  and  his  strongest  graces  were 
often  put  to  the  test.  A  young  lady,  who  had 
been  known  to  him  from  her  childhood,  and 
whose  palfrey  had  lost  a  shoe,  called  at  his 
shop  to  have  it  replaced.  She  appeared  de- 
licate. He  looked  compassionately  upon  her, 
and  asked,  "  Dost  thou  know,  barn,  whether 
thou  hast  a  soul  V     Startled  with  the  question, 


182  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH 

she  looked  in  return  ;  but  before  she  was  per- 
mitted to  reply,  he  said,  "  Thou  hast  one, 
whether  thou  knowest  it  or  not ;  and  it  will  live 
in  happiness  or  misery  for  ever."  These,  and 
other  remarks,  produced  serious  reflections. 
Her  father  perceived  from  her  manner,  on  her 
return  home — her  residence  being  not  far  from 
Samuel's  dwelling — that  something  was  prey- 
ing upon  her  spirits.  She  told  him  the  cause  : 
"What,"  he  exclaimed,  "has  that  old  black- 
smith been  at  thee,  to  turn  thy  head  ?  but  I  will 
ivhack  (beat)  him."  So  saying,  he  took  up  a 
large  stick,  similar  to  a  hedge-stake — left  the 
house — posted  off  to  Samuel's  residence — found 
him  at  the  anvil — and  without  the  least  inti- 
mation, fetched  him  a  heavy  blow  on  the  side, 
which,  said  Samuel,  when  relating  the  circum- 
stance, "  nearly  felled  me  to  the  ground,"  adding, 
"  and  it  was  not  a  little  that  would  have  done 
it  in  those  days."  On  receiving  the  blow,  he 
turned  around,  and  said,  "  What  art  thou  about, 
man  ?  what  is  that  for  ?"  Supposing  it  to  be 
out  of  revenge,  and  that  religion  was  the  cause 
of  it,  he  made  a  sudden  wheel,  and  lifting  up 
his  arm,  inclined  the  other  side  to  his  enraged 
assailant,  saying,  "  Here,  man,  hit  that  too." 
But  either  his  courage  failed  him,  or  he  was 
softened  by  the  manner  in  which  the  blow  was 
received  ;  beholding  in  Samuel  a  real  disciple 
of  Him,  who  said,  "  Whosoever  shall  smite  thee 
on  the  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also." 
He  then  left  him  ;  and  Samuel  had  the  happi- 
ness of  witnessing  the  progress  of  religion  in 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  183 

the  daughter.  Some  time  after  this,  the  person 
himself  was  taken  ill,  and  Samuel  was  sent  for. 
He  was  shown  into  the  chamber,  and  looking 
on  the  sick  man,  he  asked,  "  What  is  the  matter 
with  thee  ?  art  thou  bowii  to  die  ?"  He  stretched 
out  his  arm  to  Samuel,  and  said,  "  Will  you 
forgive  me?"  Not  recollecting  the  circum- 
stance for  the  moment,  Samuel  asked,  "  What 
for?  I  have  nothing  against  thee,  barn,  nor  any 
man  living."  The  case  being  noticed,  the 
question  was  again  asked,  "  Will  you  forgive 
me  ?"  "  Forgive  thee,  barn  ?  1  tell  thee  I 
have  nothing  against  thee  !  But  if  thou  art  about 
to  die,  we  will  pray  a  bit,  and  see  if  the  Lord 
will  forgive  thee."  Samuel  knelt  by  the  side 
of  the  couch,  and  the  dying  man  united  with 
him :  and  from  the  penitence,  fervour,  and  gra- 
titude which  he  manifested,  there  was  hope  in 
his  death.  The  daughter  continued  an  object 
of  his  solicitude  ;  she  grew  up  to  womanhood, 
— became  a  mother, — and  he  afterward  exulted 
to  see  her  and  two  of  her  daughters  members 
of  the  Wesleyan  Society.  Four  conversions 
are  here  to  be  traced,  in  regular  succession, 
and  attributable  apparently  to  a  word  fitly  and 
seasonably  spoken,  by  one  of  the  weak  tilings  of 
this  world,  becoming  mighty  through  God. 

Samuel  appeared,  in  many  cases,  to  have 
the  power  of  accommodating  his  coiiduct  to  the 
characters  and  occasions  which  demanded  his 
attention,  and  that  too  in  a  way  which  his 
mental  faculties  would  scarcely  warrant ;  for 
while  he   would  employ  muscular  force   in    a 


184  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

case  where  the  intellect  was  inspired  by  the 
abuse  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  bear  with 
meekness  the  arm  of  flesh  upon  himself,  for 
righteousness'  sake,  he  would  at  the  same  time 
defend  himself  against  the  tongue  of  slander, 
and  subdue,  by  Christian  means,  any  improper 
feeling  he  might  perceive  in  the  professors  of 
Christianity  themselves.  A  singular  instance 
of  self-defence  occurred,  in  the  course  of  one 
of  his  journeys.  He  was  returning  home  by 
way  of  Aberford,  in  a  stage  coach.  A  clergy- 
man, and  some  ladies  of  fashion,  were  his  com- 
panions. They  were  on  their  way  to  the  grand 
musical  festival  held  in  York  Minster.  The 
clergyman  expatiated  on  the  delights  of  the  oc- 
casion,  the    innocence*   of   such   enjoyments, 

*  An  article  in  the  Christian  01>server  of  1821,  p.  250,  of 
which  the  following  is  an  extract,  demands  attention;  and 
the  more  so,  as,  from  the  medium  of  publication,  it  shows  the 
view  which  the  evangelical  part  of  his  brethren  take  of  the 
Miibject  : 

"  It  appears  to  me  thai  it  is  not  lawful  for  Christians  to 
attend  a  concert  of  sacred  music  in  a  church  for  charitable 
purposes,  either  as  respects  the  performances,  the  per- 
formers, or  the  place.  Music  is,  strictly  speaking,  '  sacred' 
only  when  employed  in  the  worship  of  God,  of  which  tho 
song  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  forms  one  of  the  most  de- 
lightful parts.  Its  animating  and  elevating  influences  many 
Christians  can  abundantly  testify,  who  have  sometimes, 
wnen  joining  a  large  congregation  in  one  united  chorus,  been 
almost  ready  to  imagine  that  they  caughl  the  faint  echo  of 
those  immortal  strums  winch  cherubim  and  seraphim  pour 
forth  in  honour  of  the  celestial  King.  But  of  the  performers 
of  these  public  oratorios  it  seems  almost  impossible,  even  for 
that  chanty  winch  hopeth  all  things,  not  to  fear,  that  with 
them  the  prayer  of  penitence,  or  the  glow  of  gratitude,  the 
rapture  of  hone,  or  the  triumph  of  faith,  are  nothing  more 
than  idle  words — a  solemn  mockery  of  Him  who  demands 
the  homage  of  tho  heurt,  and  declares  that  ho  '  will  not  hold 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  185 

and  the  benevolence  of  the  object.  He  ob- 
served, that  lie  knew  of  no  class  of  persons 
who  would  venture  to  hazard  an  objection 
against  such  amusements,  except  a  few  "  cant- 
ing Methodists."  He  then  took  occasion  to 
launch  out  some  violent  invectives  against  the 
body,  insisting  on  their  incapacity  to  form  a 
judgment  in  such  cases,  from  the  circumstance 
of  the  members  belonging  to  the  lowest  classes 

him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in  vain.'  Their  object  is 
gain,  and  that  of  their  auditors  amusement. 

"  The  worship  of  God  is  not  for  a  moment  in  the  thoughts 
of  the  asscmhiy  :  yet  for  this  express  purpose,  and  this  alone, 
was  the  house  of  God  prepared.  It  is  written  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  obligation  of  the  precept  is  confirmed  by 
the  authority  of  our  Saviour  in  the  New,  '  My  house  shall 
be  called  of  all  nations  a  house  of  prayer  :'  and  did  he  who 
once  drove  the  buyers  and  sellers  out  of  the  Jewish  temple 
now  dwell  among  us  in  a  human  form,  we  can,  I  think, 
scarcely  imasine  that  the  votaries  of  pleasure  would  be  re- 
garded hy  him  with  a  more  lenient  eye  than  the  lovers  of 
gain.  To  buy  and  sell  is  lawful,  and  so  may  music  be  ;  but 
it  is  not  lawful  to  desecrate  the  sanctuary  of  God  by  applying 
it  to  any  secular  purpose  whatever. 

"  To  "the  inquiry,  '  Is  it  lawful  for  Christians  to  attend  a 
performance  of  music  of  a  moral  tendency,  mixed  with 
sacred  or  of  sacred  only,  within  the  walls  of  a  theatre?'  I 
again  answer,  No.  If  in  the  former  instance  the  perform- 
ance be  a  profanation  of  the  place,  in  this  the  performance 
is  polluted  by  the  place.  And  the  most  strenuous  advocates 
for  theatrical  exhibitions  cannot  deny  that  they  are  insepara- 
bly attended  by  a  fearful  train  of  incidental  evils,  all  of  which 
remain  in  equally  active  and  equally  destructive  operation, 
whether  the  audience  be  attracted  by  the  genius  of  Handel 
or  Shakspeare. 

"The  natural  tendency  of  music  is,  to  cheer  the  spirits 
when  oppressed  by  study  or  fatigue,  and  to  soothe  the  tem- 
per irritated  by  the  little  vexations  of  life.  It  supplies  a 
never-failing  source  of  innocent  recreation,  and  generally 
proves  an  additional  bond  of  family  attachment.  Every  ad- 
vantage, however,  which  music  has  to  bestow,  may  be  ob- 
tained in  private.     Should  it  therefore  be  conceded,  that  it 


186  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

of  society,  finally  denouncing  them  as  a  set  of 
hypocrites  and  vagabonds.  Samuel,  who  had 
hitherto  avoided  obtruding  his  remarks  upon 
the  party,  could  brook  it  no  longer.  He  con- 
sidered himself  implicated  in  the  general  charge, 
and  his  spirit  rose  indignantly  at  it:  "  Sir,"  said 
he,  "  I  am  a  Methodist.  I  am  going  to  the 
place  where  I  was  born,  and  where  I  am  well 
known  ;  and  I  will  make  you  prove  your  words, 

is  lawful  for  Christians  to  attend  the  concerts  of  miscel- 
laneous music  performed  in  the  Hanover-Siniare  rooms  or 
elsewhere,  I  think,  it  must  be  maintained  I  hat  it  is  by  no 
means  expedient  to  do  so. 

"If  it  he  possible  that  these  musical  entertainments  rank 
among  those  '  pomps  and  vanities' which  we  pledged  our- 
selves by  our  baptismal  covenant  to  renounce — if  they  have 
any  tendency  to  make  the  every-day  duties  and  occupations 
of  life  comparatively  insipid — if  by  this  indulgence  we  tread 
upon  the  frontier  line  which  separates  the  lawful  enjoyment 
from  the  unlawful  compliance — if  by  thus  advancing  to  the 
brink  of  a  precipice,  we  become  liable  to  fall  headlong  in 
some  unguarded  moment — or  though  we  can  tread  the  dizzy 
height  in  safety,  should  others,  following  our  example, 
stumble  and  fall — where  is  t he  Christian  that  can  hesitate 
an  instant  between  the  gratification  of  an  hour  and  the  risk 
of  incurring  any  oneof  these  awful  possibilities  !  It  is  always 
dangerous  to  be  conformed  to  this  world — always  safe  to 
deny  ourselves,  to  lake  up  our  cross  and  follow  our  Re- 
deemer. It  would  be  less  inconsistent  for  the  {philosopher 
to  covet  the  toys  of  infancy,  than  it  is  for  the  member  o! 
Christ,  the  child  of  God,  and  the  inheritor  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  anxiously  to  desire  even  the  most  elegant  and 
refined  of  the  pleasures  of  sense.  lie  should  ever  remember 
that  he  is  not  his  own.  His  fortune,  his  time,  his  talents, 
his  influence,  his  example,  must  all  be  devoted  to  the  giory 
or  (iod.  Remembering  the  exhortation  of  our  Lord,  '  Watch 
and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation,'  he  desires  not  to 
widen  the  narrow  path  which  leadeth  unto  life  eternal,  but 
to  obtain  grace  to  pursue  it  with  patient  perseverance;  know- 
ing that  so  only  shall  '  an  entrance  be  administered  unto  him 
abundantly  of  his  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."' 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  187 

sir."  The  clergyman  was  a  little  confounded 
by  this  sudden  burst  of  expression,  and  had  no 
expectation  of  being  so  suddenly  and  uncere- 
moniously subpoenaed  to  appear  as  a  witness  in 
his  own  defence.  It  was  in  vain  to  attempt  the 
hackneyed  method  of  parrying  off  the  reflec- 
tion by  exempting  the  present  company.  The 
character  of  the  body  was  as  dear  to  Samuel 
as  his  own ;  and  he  continued  to  bore  the 
reverend  gentleman,  till  the  coach  stopped  at 
the  door  of  the  inn  at  Aberford.  The  inn- 
keeper was  in  immediate  attendance,  when 
Samuel  and  the  clergyman  alighted,  the  latter 
being  little  aware — as  under  a  contrary  im- 
pression he  would  have  probably  retained  his 
inside  berth — that  the  subject  would  be  again 
agitated.  Samuel  accosted  the  master  of  the 
house,  with  no  common  earnestness  and  gesticu- 
lation, saying,  "  You  know  me,  don't  you  ?"  and 
before  he  had  time  to  receive  a  distinct  reply  in 
the  affirmative,  pressed  nearly  into  the  same 
breath,  the  grand  question,  of  which  the  other 
was  only  the  precursor, — "Am  I  a  hypocrite  or 
a  vagabond?"  "  No,  Samuel,"  was  the  reply: 
"  you  are  known  all  around  here,  as  an  honest, 
hard-working  man."  To  this  Samuel  responded, 
"  I  work  for  all  I  have,  pay  every  body  their 
own,  and  get  nothing  for  preaching."  He  then 
pointed  to  the  clergyman,  aud  recapitulated 
what  he  had  said.  The  innkeeper,  not  know- 
ing the  cause  of  Samuel's  interrogatories  before, 
and  seeing  a  probable  customer  in  the  clergy- 
man, was  not  very  anxious  to  proceed  with  hia 


188  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

answers;  and  the  clergyman,  unwilling  to  con- 
firm his  delinquency  by  retiring,  stood  a  short 
time.  Samuel's  earnest  appeals  in  the  mean 
time  attracted  attention  ;  the  people  thickened 
around  them,  in  front  of  the  inn  ;  he  proceeded 
to  dwell  on  the  charges,  and  to  point  to  the 
clergyman,  as  going  to  spend  his  time  and  his 
money  at  the  concert.  The  clergyman  found 
himself  so  much  annoyed  by  the  looks,  the 
jokes,  and  remarks  of  the  crowd,  who  encour- 
aged Samuel  in  his  zeal  for  character,  that  he 
was  glad  when  the  horses  were  changed,  and 
lie  found  himself  safely  seated  by  the  side  of 
the  ladies,  reaping  instruction,  no  doubt,  from 
the  event,  though  not  much  enamoured  with  the 
uncourteous  manner  in  which  his  fellow-travel- 
ler had  defended  himself. 

Though  the  clergyman's  opinion  of  the  low- 
bred character  of  the  Methodists  was  not  likely 
to  be  much  improved  by  the  specimen  with 
which  he  had  just  been  favoured,  yet  it  was 
only  the  rougher  side  of  Samuel's  integrity  of 
which  he  had  a  view,  and  which  his  own  rasp- 
ing had  raised.  Samuel  was  much  better  quali- 
fied to  repress  and  correct  improper  feeling,  than 
to  combat  erroneous  notions.  He  attended  a 
lovefeast  in  the  Wakefield  circuit,  when  Mr. 
Bradburn  was  stationed  there.  Several  of  the 
good  people  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  out  a 
ferae  of  a  hymn  before  they  narrated  their 
Christian  experience,  by  way  of  tuning  their 
spirits  for  the  work.  This  was  prohibited  by 
Mr.   Bradburn,  not  only  as  a  reflection  upon 


THE    VILLAOK     BLACKSMITH.  189 

himself,  being  both  authorized  and  competent 
to  conduct  the  service,  but  as  an  improper  ap- 
propriation of  the  time  which  was  set  apart  for 
speaking.  Samuel,  either  forgetting  the  pro- 
hibition, or  being  too  warm  to  be  restrained 
within  its  limits,  gave  out  a  verse.  Mr.  Brad- 
burn  was  instantly  in  his  majesty,  and  with  one 
of  his  severest  and  worst  faces,  looked  at  Sam- 
uel, who  stood  up  in  the  congregation  and  sung 
alone,  no  one  daring  to  join  him — prefacing  his 
rebuke  with  one  of  his  singularly  extravagant 
remarks, — "  Where  is  the  person  that  would 
not  come  out  of  a  red  hot  oven,  to  hear  such  a 
man  as  you  sing  V  then  proceeding  to  make 
such  observations  as  he  thought  proper.  Sam- 
uel, supposing  the  rebuke  to  have  been  given  in 
an  improper  spirit,  went  into  the  vestry  after 
service  to  settle  matters.  Offering  to  shake 
hands  with  Mr.  B.,  who  was  not  in  one  of  his 
most  complacent  moods,  lie  was  saluted  with — 
"  What,  are  you  the  man  that  persisted  in  sing- 
ing, after  I  peremptorily  forbid  it  ?"  "  Ye — ye 
— yes,  sir,"  said  Samuel ;  "  but  I  hope  you  will 
forgive  me,  Mr.  Bradburn  :"  and  without  wait- 
ing to  see  how  the  request  was  taken,  he  was 
in  an  instant  upon  his  knees  among  the  people. 
Those  around  followed  his  example,  and  last  of 
all,  Mr.  B.  knelt  by  his  side,  who  found  that  it 
would  scarcely  look  decorous  to  stand  alone. 
Every  heart  was  touched  with  Samuel's  sim- 
plicity and  fervour;  and  when  he  concluded 
prayer,  Mr.  B.,  with  a  full  heart,  and  with  all 
the  magnanimity  and  generous  flow  of  spirit  he 


190  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

possessed,  stretched  out  his  hand,  familiarly 
saying,  "  There,  my  brother  ;  this  is  the  way — 
to  keep  paying  off  as  we  go  on." 

Though  he  often  overcame  opposing  feelings 
by  prayer,  for  which  he  was  better  qualified 
than  for  holding  a  long  parley  on  opinion  ;  yet 
on  subjects  proposed  by  a  querist,  he  would 
change  two  or  three  sharp  rounds  on  a  contro- 
verted point.  "  1  have  often  been  struck,"  says 
Mr.  Daw  son,  "  at  the  promptness  and  propriety 
of  his  replies  to  persons  who  have  proposed 
objections  and  questions  to  him  upon  particular 
subjects,  and  in  peculiar  cases.  He  manifest- 
ed some  astonishing  gleams  of  sanctified  satire, 
when  directed  to  a  person  or  a  subject,  which 
penetrated  deep  into  the  heart ;  while  sparkles 
of  holy  wit  would  touch  the  risible  faculties, 
and  thrill  a  delight  through  the  soul  of  the 
hearer,  which  neither  debased  his  understand- 
ing nor  his  affections.  A  ray  of  light  would 
sometimes  dart  from  him  in  a  moment,  which 
would  instantly  scatter  the  shades  and  remove 
the  scruples  from  an  inquiring  mind.  Of  this 
peculiarity  of  talent  he  himself  was  insensible  : 
all  was  spontaneous  and  natural."  While  this 
citation  comes  in  as  evidence  of  what  has  been 
stated,  it  may  be  further  illustrated  by  other 
striking  instances  of  quickness  of  perception, 
discrimination,  and  point. 

Having  business  to  transact  which  bore  hard 
upon  his  patience,  and  seeing  the  person  who 
was  agent  for  him  in  the  transaction  going 
about  with  the  utmost  deliberation,  with  coun- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  191 

tenance  and  temper  as  serene  as  the  unruffled 
lake,  he  seemed  uncomfortable  in  the  presence 
of  such  superiority  ;  and  yet,  unwilling  to  un- 
christianize  himself,  as  well  as  sensible  of  the 
kindly  feeling  he  possessed  toward  the  persons 
who  were  the  occasion  of  his  exercises,  he 
said,  "  We  are  botli  perfect ;  you  are  perfect  in 
patience,  and  I  am  perfect  in  love."  Though  the 
theology  of  this  is  questionable,  as  a  general 
position,  yet  in  its  particular  application  to 
Samuel,  there  is  more  truth  in  it  than  at  first 
might  appear ;  for  if  he  excelled  in  any  one 
branch  of  "  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,"  it  was  in  love. 
To  a  gentleman  labouring  under  great  ner- 
vous depression,  whom  he  had  visited,  and  who 
was  moving  along  the  streets  as  though  he  was 
apprehensive  that  every  step  would  shake  his 
system  in  pieces,  he  was  rendered  singularly 
useful.  They  met ;  and  Samuel,  having  a  deep- 
er interest  in  the  soul  than  the  body,  asked, 
"  Well,  how  are  you  getting  on  your  way  to 
heaven  ?"  The  poor  invalid,  in  a  dejected,  half- 
desponding  tone,  replied,  "  But  slowly,  I  fear ;" 
intimating  that  he  was  creeping  along  only  at  a 
snail's  pace.  "  Why,  bless  you,  barn,"  returned 
Samuel,  "  there  were  snails  in  the  ark."  The 
reply  was  so  earnest,  so  unexpected,  and  met 
the  dispirited  man  so  immediately  on  his  own 
ground,  that  the  temptation  broke  away,  and  he 
rose  out  of  his  depression.  It  was  a  resurrec- 
tion to  his  feelings  ;  inferring,  that  if  the  snail 
reached  the  ark,  he  too,  "  faint,  yet  pursuing," 
might  gain  admission  into  heaven. 


192  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

Perhaps  one  of  his  happiest  conquests  in 
oral  controversy  was  obtained  over  the  Rev. 
K.,  of  Leeds,  a  gentleman  of  great  shrewd- 
ness and  learning.  They  were  both  on  board 
a  Selby  steam-packet,  going  down  the  river 
toward  Hull.  Samuel  was  walking  the  deck, 
and  humming  over  a  hymn-tune,  which  ap- 
peared to  attract  the  attention  of  Mr.  K.,  who 
abruptly  opened  out  upon  him  on  the  evils  of 
Methodism,  suspecting  him  to  belong  to  that 
body,  from  the  character  of  the  music.  He  in- 
sisted on  the  mischief  it  had  done  by  the  tenets 
it  propagated,  particularly  instancing  the  doc- 
trine of  sanctification,  for  which,  he  contended, 
there  was  no  foundation.  Though  Samuel  did 
not  appear  to  be  personally  known  to  Mr.  K., 
yet  Mr.  K.  was  not  unknown  to  him  ;  to  whom 
he  instantly  returned,  "  See  that  you  never  read 
the  Church  Prayers  again,  for  I  am  sure  there 
is  full  sanctif  cation  in  them."  "  No  such 
thing,"  was  the  reply.  "  What,"  said  Samuel, 
"  do  you  not  pray  that  the  Lord  would  cleanse 
the  thoughts  of  the  heart  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Spirit?  See  that  you  do  not  read 
that,  sir.  next  Sunday."  Mr.  K.  finding  himself 
pressed  from  this  high  quarter,  and  partly  con- 
ceding the  principle,  by  flying  to  what  he 
deemed  its  effects,  asked,  "  What  good  has  the 
doctrine  done?"  gliding,  as  a  diversion  of  the 
subject,  into  the  general  topic  of  Methodism 
again  ;  demanding,  "  What  have  the  Methodists 
effected  ?  Bad  women  are  on  the  increase ; 
Leeds  is   swarming   with    them."      "  How    is 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMlTJf.  -193 

that  ?"  inquired  Samuel :  "  I  was  in  Leeds  the 
other  week,  i  nd  never  met  with  one."  "  I 
know,"  rejoined  Mr.  K.,  "  that  there  never  were 
so  many  as  there  are  at  present."  "  Happen 
so,"  replied  Samuel,  as  though  he  had  reached 
the  end  of  both  his  patience  and  his  thoughts  : 
"  it  may  be  that  you  are  better  acquainted  with 
them  than  me,  sir."  This  was  quantum  sitjicit, 
and  Mr.  K.  left  him  to  hum  over  his  tune  to  the 
remainder  of  the  hymn.  Pungent,  however, 
as  the  last  remark  may  have  seemed,  it  would 
have  been  found,  if  Samuel  had  been  interro- 
gated upon  it,  that  there  was  as  much  of  con- 
cession intended  for  superior  knowledge,  as 
there  was  of  any  indirect  reflection  upon  moral 
character  ;  and  ten  minutes  would  scarcely 
have  elapsed,  till — fiom  other  subjects  occupy- 
ing his  thoughts — he  would  have  been  as  in- 
sensible to  what  had  passed  as  though  he  had 
never  exchanged  a  syllable  with  the  gentleman 
that  spoke  to  him. 

Singing  was  one  of  his  favourite  employ- 
ments, both  in  company  and  alone.  Engaged 
thus,  as  he  was  riding  along  the  road  once,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Dawson,  and  another  friend 
or  two,  he  seemed  lost  occasionally  to  the  soci- 
ety of  his  fellow-travellers.  He  had  got  hold 
of  a  tune  which  was  in  use  among  the  Ranters, 
so  called.  This  he  continued  to  hum  over,  in 
the  same  way  as  when  he  walked  the  deck,  ex- 
claiming at  short  intervals,  "  Bless  the  Lord  for 
a  fine  shower !"  The  rain  continued  more  co- 
pious in  its  descent ; — his  companions  buttoned 
13 


194.  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

up,  and  turned  their  sides  to  the  weather,  sink- 
ing the  lower  part  of  the  lace  into  the  collars 
of  their  coats; — Samuel  sung  on,  sensible  only 

of  his  mercies,  again  exclaiming,  "  Bless  the 
Lord  for  a  fine  shower  !"  One  of  Ins  compan- 
ions, as  much  annoyed  with  the  tune  as  by  the 
rain,  objected  to  it  as  an  indifferent  one.  "Sing 
a  better,  then,"  said  .Samuel,  turning  his  head 
as  suddenly  from  him  as  he  had  directed  it  to- 
ward him,  still  singing  and  keeping  time  to  the 
amble  of  the  horse,  lacing  the  weather,  and 
praising  the  Lord  for  watering  the  earth.  The 
friend  again  complained  of  tin-  time,  and  again 
solicited  another.  "  Sing  yourself,"  said  Sam- 
uel. "  I  have  no  voice  for  the  work,"  was  the 
reply.  "Don't  complain,"  rejoined  Samuel, 
"  of  what  you  cannot  mend,"  again  directing 
his  face  to  the  shower,  and  his  mind  to  the 
Giver  of  it,  absent  every  now  and  then  to  all 
companionship,  and  as  happy,  though  satu- 
rated with  the  teeming  contents  of  the  clouds, 
as  if  he  had  been  sheltered  under  his  own 
roof. 

Though  he  possessed  the  power  of  occasion- 
ally accommodating  himself  to  existing  circum- 
stances, and  particular  companies,  isolated  in- 
stances occurred,  when  he  was  perfectly  lost 
to  the  respect  due  to  the  habits  and  feelings  of 
others.  He  was  led  by  inclination  to  a  public 
meeting  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  took  his 
seat  in  the  midst  of  them.  This  was  an  ordi- 
nance, and  an  assembly,  for  which  he  was  the 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  195 

least  fitted,  either  by  nature  or  by  habit ;  and 
although  he  had  often  sung — 

"A  solemn  reverence  checks  our  songs, 
And  praise  sits  silent  on  our  tongues," 

he  never  till  now  knew  what  it  was  to  live  un- 
der the  restraint  of  praise.  "  The  songs  of 
Zion"  were  in  his  heart,  in  which  he  was  sing- 
ing, and  making  melody  to  the  Lord,  as  many 
of  the  worshippers  around  him  might  have  been 
employed  :  but  having  read  of  Paul  and  Silas, 
under  less  agreeable  circumstances,  adding  to 
the  music  of  the  heart  the  variations  of  the 
voice  and  the  motion  of  the  lips — rising  in  their 
strains  till  "  the  prisoners  heard  them,"  and  em- 
bracing the  notion  that  praise  only  receives  its 
perfection  in  utterance,  he  either  so  far  forgot 
himself,  or  was  otherwise  glowing  with  such  an 
intensity  of  feeling  while  musing,  that  the  long 
silence  observed  in  the  commencement  became 
insupportable.  He  took  his  hymn-book  from 
his  pocket,  and  starting  on  his  feet — his  huge 
figure  receiving  elevation  from  the  seated  and 
lowering  position  of  those  around  him,  said, 
"  Come,  let  us  sing  a  verse  or  two."  Neither 
the  voice  nor  the  language  belonged  to  the 
place  ;  a  number  of  eyes  were  instantly  fixed 
upon  him  ;  and  strange  feelings  were  stirring, 
till  a  venerable  man  arose,  who  knew  him,  and 
accosted  him,  saying,  "  Samuel,  sit  thee  down, 
and  wait."  The  mandate  was  obeyed,  without 
reply  or  murmur ;  and  all  was  suddenly  as  still 


196  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

as  before.  After  waiting  some  time  in  silence, 
during  almost  every  minute  of  which  Samuel 
expected  some  one  to  rise  and  address  the  as- 
sembly, but  no  attempt  being  made,  he  again 
bounded  from  his  seat,  under  an  impression 
that  prayer  might  be  more  acceptable  than 
praise,  and  said,  "  Let  us  kneel  down,  friends, 
and  pray  a  bit."  Just  as  he  was  in  the  attitude 
of  kneeling,  the  same  venerable  man  stood  up, 
and  with  great  solemnity  again  addressed  him, 
"  Samuel,  sit  thee  down,  and  wait  till  the 
Spirit  moves  thee."  Less  docile  than  before, 
Samuel  returned,  "  We  Methodists  think  it  very 
well,  if  we  can  have  the  Spirit  for  asking ;"  re- 
ferring with  great  readiness  to  that  passage  of 
Scripture,  H  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how 
to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children :  how 
much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ?"  Though 
Samuel  was  correct  in  doctrine,  he  was  here 
erroneous  in  conduct,  and  had  forgotten  his  own 
dislike  of  interruptions  in  divine  service,  when 
worshipping  God  agreeably  to  the  dictates  of 
his  conscience,  under  his  own  "vine,  and 
tinder  his  fig-tree  " 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  197 


CHAPTER  IX. 

His  self-denial — Sympathy  for  the  poor — Gratinide  for 
mercies — Early  rising — Singular  band-meeting- -The  best 
way  of  beginning  the  day — His  conduct  in  the  families  he 
visited — Bolton — RatclifTe  Close — Often  abrupt  in  his  man- 
ners— His  views  of  proprietorship — A  genuine  Wesleyan — 
An  attempt  to  purchase  him — His  character  as  the  head  of 
a  family — Gives  up  business — Preaching  excursions — Visits 
Rigton — Providential  supply — His  public  addresses — De 
light  in  his  work — E.  Brook,  Esq. — Denby  Dale— Prosperi- 
ty of  the  work  of  God — A  new  chapel — Samuel  visits  Roch- 
dale— Rises  superior  to  his  exercises — takes  a  tour  into  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Lancashire — Great  commercial  distress — 
Liberality  of  P.  E.  Towneley,  Esq. — Meeting  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor — Samuel's  return  home — Visits  different  parts 
of  the  York  circuit — Revival  of  religion — Persecution. 

As  Samuel  had  obtained  the  grace  which 
enabled  him  to  "  rejoice  evermore,"  he  seemed 
to  create  a  paradise  in  every  circle  in  Avhich  he 
moved.  Whenever  he  was  oppressed — which 
was  rarely  the  case — it  was  either  on  account 
of  the  wants  and  miseries  of  others,  or  occa- 
sioned by  an  overwhelming  sense  of  his  own 
mercies.  Thus,  on  being  urged  to  take  more 
food  at  table,  he  has  been  heard  to  say,  in  sea- 
sons of  commercial  and  agricultural  distress, 
"  O  no :  I  cannot  take  more  while  I  think  of 
so  many  around  me  nearly  starving  for  want  of 
bread." 

So,  also,  on  being  entertained  out  of  the  or- 
dinary line,  in  the  house  of  a  friend,  his  grati- 
tude, like  the  thermometer,  rose  to  the  highest 
point.  He  was  at  Pontefract  during  the  bustle 
of  an  election,  and  was  lodged  in  the  house  of 


198  Till:    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

Mr.  M.,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
whose  family  was  Btrongly  attached  to  Samuel. 
He  was  honoured  with  the  best  fare,  the  best 
room,  and  the  best  bed,  the  last  of  which  was 
unusually  high.  On  being  asked  the  next  day, 
how  he  liked  his  lodgings,  he  said,  "  Why, 
barn,  I  have  been  crying  half  the  night ;  I  never 
was  in  such  a  bed  before  ;  I  had  to  take  a  chair 
to  get  into  it.  O  how  I  wept ;  for  I  thought 
my  Lord  never  had  such  a  bed  as  that."  This 
was  properly  "  the  joy  of  grief."  Samuel  dwelt 
much  upon  his  Saviour  ;  the  "  servant"  and  the 
"  Lord1,1  afforded  him  some  amazing  contrasts, 
and  drew  forth  the  finest  feelings  of  his  soul. 

But  he  had  his  "  songs  in  the  night,"  and  his 
morning  carols,  as  well  as  his  tears.  "  He  was 
in  the  habit,''  Mr.  Dawson  observes.  "  of  rising 
very  early  in  the  morning,  (about  four  o'clock,) 
and  of  partially  dressing  himself,  when  he 
bowed  his  knees  before  his  divine  Father, 
praying  first  for  the  church  in  general,  next  for 
particular  characters,  and  lastly  for  special 
cases.  He  then  sung  a  verse  of  a  hymn — re- 
tired to  bed  again — and  after  a  short  time  arose, 
and  began  the  day  with  praise  and  prayer." 
The  occasion  of  this  systematic  proceeding  is 
known  to  few.  Samuel  had  a  band-jnatc,  with 
whom  he  met  for  some  time,  and  to  whom  he 
was  much  endeared.  Four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  was  the  hour  of  meeting;  and  this 
was  selected,  not  only  because  of  its  tranquil- 
lity, but  because  it  prevented  self-indulgence. 
His  companion  died,  and  he  mourned  his  loss 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  199 

like  the  stock-dove,  whose  mate  had  just  sat 
by  his  side  on  the  same  bough,  and  had  dropped 
off  through  the  hand  of  the  fowler.  The  hour 
and  the  ordinance  were  held  sacred  by  the  sur- 
vivor. He  rose  at  the  appointed  time — sung — 
prayed — unfolded  the  secrets  of  his  heart  to 
God,  as  he  was  wont  to  do  with  his  Christian 
friend — thus  going  regularly  through  the  ser- 
vice, as  though  the  dead  were  still  alive,  and 
by  his  side,  holding  converse  with  him.  This 
is  one  of  those  mementos  of  Christian  friend- 
ship which  rarely  occur  in  the  same  form  ; 
but-  while  its  singularity  excites  the  surprise  of 
some,  its  piety  will  secure  the  admiration  of 
others,  and  amply  atone  for  any  peculiarity  in 
its  manner.  Those,  only,  perhaps,  will  indulge 
the  laugh,  who,  nevertheless,  have  their  anni- 
versaries, <yc,  but  support  them  in  another  way, 
bv  toasting  each  other  over  the  maddening  bowl, 
and  cheering  each  other  with  the  speech  and 
the  song,  till  they  become  objects  of  pity, 
rather  than  subjects  for  imitation. 

The  summary  account  of  his  matins,  as  given 
by  Mr.  Dawson,  is  exemplified  by  a  particular 
case,  as  recorded  by  the  family  of  P.  liothwell, 
Esq.,  of  Sunning  Hill,  Bolton,  in  whose  house 
Samuel  at  one  time  resided  for  the  space  of 
nearly  three  weeks.  "  He  frequently  rose,"  it 
is  remarked,  <:  in  the  night  to  pray.  On  one  of 
those  occasions  he  was  heard  singing  a  hymn, 
after  which  he  pleaded  with  God  that  he  might 
enjoy  a  closer  walk  with  Jesus,  and  his  prayer 
was    soon   turned   into  praise.      He  repeated 


200  THK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

several  times,  '  O  that  I  could  praise  thee  !  O 
that  I  could  praise  thee  as  1  would! — but  I 
shall  praise  thee  again  when  I  pass  over  Jor- 
dan !  Glory!  glory!  glory!'  He  then  prayed 
for  his  family,  the  family  he  was  visiting,  the 
church  of  God,  and  for  the  world  at  large.  He 
appeared  to  feel  much  while  pleading  for  sin- 
ners, and  then  was  borne  away  in  transport  for 
redeeming  mercy.  Some  time  -after  he  rose 
from  his  knees,  his  language  was,  '  Glory ! 
glory  !' ''  He  has  been  known  on  some  of  these 
occasions  to  indulge  in  a  sublimity  of  thought 
of  which  at  other  times  he  was  incapable,  and 
which — taken  in  connection  with  the  whole  man 
would  have  lixed  upon  him,  by  some  gifted  be- 
ings, had  they  overheard  him,  much  more  ap- 
propriately than  ever  was  applied  to  Goldsmith, 
the  epithet  of  "  an  inspired  idiot,"  and  he  would 
have  stood  a  fair  chance  of  being  deified  among 
the  Mohammedans. 

Such  a  beginning  was  an  excellent  prepara 
tion  for  the  duties,  the  exercises,  and  the  mer- 
cies of  the  day  ;  and  it  will  be  generally  found, 
that  its  close  will  correspond  with  its  com- 
mencement. The  man  who  permits  God  to 
hear  his  voice  in  the  morning  will  not  himself 
be  silent,  nor  yet  mourn  an  absent  God  in  the 
evening.  These  "  morning  communings"  se- 
cured attention  to  "  stated  times"  for  retirement 
through  the  day,  when  he  entered  into  his 
closet  before  his  Father,  who  sees  in  secret, 
and  rewards  openly  ;  and  this  is  the  secret  of 
that  charm  which  was  thrown  around  his  spirit 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  201 

and  demeanour  in  social  life.  He  came  forth 
in  the  morning,  like  the  sun  from  his  chambers 
in  the  east — refreshed  and  refreshing.  Happy 
in  himself,  he  chased  away  melancholy  from 
the  soul,  and  lighted  up  a  sunshine  in  the  coun- 
tenances of  those  with  whom  he  conversed. 
"  No  family,"  said  a  friend,  in  whose  house  he 
had  been  resident  some  weeks — "  No  family 
could  be  miserable  with  whom  he  lived,  because 
he  laboured  to  make  every  person  around  him 
happy."  Mrs.  Bealey,  of  Ratcliffe  Close,  near 
Bury,  in  Lancashire,  a  lady  well  qualified  to 
appreciate  real  worth,  whether  religious,  moral, 
or  intellectual,  and  under  whose  hospitable  roof 
Samuel  was  entertained  nearly  two  months,  ob- 
served to  Mr.  Dawson,  "  That,  he  interested 
himself  in  the  welfare  of  the  whole  family,  as 
though  he  had  been  united  to  them  by  the  ten- 
der ties  of  nature.  He  participated  in  all  their 
pleasures,  as  well  as  increased  them,  and  was 
rendered  truly  useful  to  the  men  and  children 
employed  in  the  works.  He  sympathized  also 
with  persons  with  whom  he  was  acquainted,  in 
their  losses  in  cattle  or  trade,  as  though  he  had 
been  the  loser  himself."  It  was  the  love  and 
joy  within,  which,  as  is  remarked  elsewhere 
by  Mr.  Dawson,  "gave  a  beam  to  his  eye,  a 
smile  to  his  countenance,  a  tone  to  his  voice, 
and  an  energy  to  his  language,  which  melted 
and  attracted  every  heart  that  came  within  the 
sphere  of  his  influence." 

This   attractive    influence    was    not  always 
sudden,  but  it  was  rarely  otherwise  than  cer- 


202  THE    VILLAGE     BLACKSMITH. 

tain.  On  his  first  visit  to  the  residence  of  a 
gentleman  in  Lancashire,  to  whom  till  then  he 
was  personally  unknown,  he  was  directed  to 
the  house  accidentally.  He  rode  up  to  the  door 
of  that  gentleman,  and  after  having  seen  his 
horse  put  under  the  care  of  his  servant,  he  en 
tered  the  house,  where  he  was  introduced  into 
the  parlour.  Without  either  letter  or  person 
to  introduce  him,  and  with  no  other  passport 
than  the  connection  of  the  family  with  the  Wes- 
leyan  body,  he  took,  his  seat  in  the  domestic 
circle,  where  he  sat,  unconscious  as  innocence 
or  infancy  of  any  other  prerequisite  for  social 
enjoyment,  than  the  religion  of  his  Saviour 
The  habits  of  the  gentleman,  and  the  society 
in  which  he  moved,  rendered  him  at  first  un- 
comfortable ;  and  he  was  equally  at  a  loss  to 
know  what  to  do  with,  and  what  to  make  of,  his 
new  and  unexpected  guest.  A  short  interlude 
assisted  in  relieving  the  first  feeling.  The  sit- 
ting-room door  wasopened,and  a  person  stepped 
in,  with  whom  the  master  of  the  house  had  to 
transact  a  little  business.  Samuel's  presence 
added  to  the  poignancy  of  his  more  delicate 
feelings.  However,  he  was  there,  and  the  per- 
son was  at  liberty  to  suppose,  if  he  judged 
proper,  that  Samuel  was  on  business  as  well 
as  himself.  He  sat  in  silence,  and  appeared 
to  take  no  notice  of  either  party.  When  the 
transaction  was  closed,  and  the  person  rose  to 
retire,  Samuel  started  on  his  I'eet,  as  though  he 
had  been  awakened  from  a  trance,  "  Stop,  sir, 
let  us  pray  a  bit  before  you  go  :    you  seem  full 


THE   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  203 

of  the  world,  and  we'll  try  to  get  it  out  of  your 
heart."  This  rendered  the  occasion  of  his 
visit  desperate  ;  and  nothing  but  violence  could 
be  done  to  the  feelings  of  his  host  to  render 
such  conduct  supportable.  But  there  was  no 
time  for  excuse  or  remonstrance ;  Samuel's  voice 
was  the  warning  clock — no  sooner  heard,  than 
on  his  knees.  The  effect  of  this  may  be  as 
readily  conceived  as  expressed.  Yet  notwith- 
standing the  coy  beginning  on  the  part  of  the 
gentleman,  he  was  soon  led  to  place  the  high- 
est value  on  Samuel's  piety  and  presence,  and 
continued  to  entertain  both  man  and  horse  for 
some  time  ;  and  so  much  regard  did  his  homely 
visiter  gain  from  himself  and  his  family,  that 
they  parted  with  sincere  regret. 

Even  in  families  where  religion  was  not  pro- 
fessed, his  simplicity  of  manner,  and  general 
good  character,  gained  him  unhesitating  access. 
When  the  Rev.  A.  Learoyd  was  on  the  Knares- 
borough  circuit,  he  went  to  preach  at  a  neigh- 
bouring village,  and  on  entering  the  house  of  a 
friend,  he  found  Samuel  seated,  who  had  just 
arrived.  "  Where  have  you  put  your  horse, 
Samuel  ?"  inquired  Mr.  L.  "  1  have  left  it  at 
the  other  end  of  the  village,"  was  the  reply ; 
adding,  "  will  you  go  with  me  to  the  house  ?" 
Mr.  L.  being  aware  that  the  family  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  Wesleyan  body,  asked,  "  Why 
did  vou  go  there  ?"  "  I  saw  plenty  of  hay, 
and  good  stables,"  returned  Samuel,  "  and  I 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  home  for  Jackey." 
The  singularity  of  the  visit  led  Mr.  L.  to  accede 


204  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

to  his  wishes  ;  and  on  being  seated  in  the  fam- 
ily circle,  Samuel  proceeded  to  interrogate  his 
host  on  the  state  of  his  soul.  Considerable 
fluency  characterized  the  replies  :  but  Samuel, 
being  suspicious  that  very  little  religion  was 
enjoyed,  proceeded  to  speak  more  plainlv,  ex- 
horting him  to  apply  to  Christ  for  converting 
grace.  The  word  of  exhortation  was  well  re- 
ceived, and  he  was  pressed  to  remain  the  night 
with  them  :  the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  he 
acted  the  part  of  a  priest  in  the  family.  "  Let 
me,"  said  he  to  the  servant-maid,  "  have  a  dry 
bed  ;"  and  to  the  servant-man,  "  You  must  give 
Jackey  plenty  to  eat: — take  good  care  of  him, 
for  he  is  the  Lord's  horse  ; — the  hay  and  the 
corn  are  the  Lord's  also.''  Abrupt  as  was  his 
introduction  here,  and  little  as  such  freedoms 
are  to  be  recommended,  either  in  Samuel  him- 
self or  as  examples  for  others,  yet  the  family 
were  much  pleased  with  his  visit.  Such  lead- 
ings and  movements,  in  irrational  creatures, 
would  be  attributed  to  instinct ;  but  Samuel  was 
girded  and  carried  often,  like  Peter  when  he 
was  old,  by  "another"  than  himself;  and  he 
was  more  indebted  to  the  Spirit  and  providence 
of  God  for  his  introduction  and  reception  than 
either  to  his  sagacity  or  the  formalities  of  mo- 
dern maimers. 

His  representation  of  "  the  hay  and  the 
com,"  as  belonging  to  the  Supreme  Being, 
arose  from  a  settled  principle  in  his  creed,  and 
included  a  certain  exclusiveness,  not  generally 
recognized  by  the  professors  of   Christianity 


THE   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  205 

His  own  crops  were  viewed  in  the  same  light; 
and  his  mind  was  so  imbued  with  this  notion, 
that  all  delegated  or  personal  right,  in  reference 
to  man,  seemed  frequently  annihilated.  He 
was  going  to  preaching  one  sabbath  morning, 
when  he  was  met  by  a  person  who  knew  his 
regard  for  the  sanctity  of  that  day.  There  had 
been  a  great  deal  of  rain,  which  proved  fatal 
to  the  "  line'"  or  flax  crops.  The  following  is 
the  purport  of  what  passed  between  them  on 
the  .road  : — 

Neighbour.  "  Where  are  you  going,  Sammy  ?" 

Samuel.  "  To  preaching." 

Neigh.  "  More  need  you  get  your  line  in, 
now  that  God  is  giving  you  fine  weather." 

Sam.  "  He  does  not  give  fine  weather  for  us 
to  break  the  sabbath." 

Neigh.  "  Why,  you  see  others  making  hay 
while  the  sun  shines :  they  will  get  their  line 
in  to-day,  and  yours,  if  you  let  it  lie  till  to-mor- 
row, and  it  should  be  wet,  will  be  spoiled." 

Sam.  "  I  have  none  to  spoil,  barn." 

Neigh.  "  Is  not  yon,  lying  down  (pointing 
to  it)  yours  V 

Sam.  "No." 

Neigh.     "  What,  is  not  yon  your  close  ?" 

Sam.  "  No,  it  is  the  Lord's :  he  has  a  right 
to  do  with  it  what  he  likes  ;  and  if  he  have  a 
mind  to  spoil  it,  he  may  :  it  is  his  own,  and  no 
one  has  any  business  to  quarrel  with  him  for  it. 
It  is  the  Lord's  day  too,  and  I  will  give  it  to 
him." 

A   brief   dialogue,   also  involving  the  same 


206  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

principle,  took  place  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ferry  Bridge,  when  Samuel  was  journeying 
from  thence  homeward.  A  gentleman  was 
passing  with  a  little  boy,  and  having  his  atten- 
tion drawn  to  some  sheep  that  were  grazing  in 
a  field  adjoining  the  road,  he  accosted  Samuel  : 

Gentleman.  "  Do  you  know,  my  good  man, 
to  whom  those  sheep  belong  V. 

Samuel.  "  My  Lord,  sir." 

Gent.  "  They  are  very  fine  ones ;  I  do  not 
recollect  ever  having  seen  their  equal." 

Sam.  "They  are  a  fine  breed,  sir." 

Gent.  "  I  thought  they  might  probably  belong 
to  Mr.  Alderson,  of  Ferry  Bridge." 

Sam.  "  No,  sir,  they  belong  to  my  Lord  ; 
don't  you  know,  that  the  earth  is  the  Lord's, 
and  the  fulness  thereof;  and  that  the  cattle 
upon  a  thousand  hills  are  his  ?" 

Gent.  "  You  are  right — you  are  right,  old 
man." 

Samuel's  reply  would  have  been  a  mere  play 
upon  words  in  the  mouth  of  many  other  per- 
sons ;  but  he  was  sincere  ;  and  the  gentleman's 
attention  was  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  ele- 
vated from  earth  to  heaven,  without  his  being 
offended  by  the  manner  in  which  it  was  done. 

With  regard  to  "  Jackey,"  who  occupied  such 
a  prominent  place  in  Samuel's  esteem,  and  who 
is  only  noticed  as  bearing  upon  his  master's 
history,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  on  one  occa- 
sion Samuel  displayed  a  feeling  respecting  the 
treatment  of  the  animal,  which  was  not  at  all 
common  to  him.     One  of  the  young  men  be- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  207 

longing  to  a  family  at  whose  house  he  stopped, 
withheld  the  meat  from  "  Jackey,"  and  other- 
wise failed  in  his  attention  as  groom.  It  came 
to  Samuel's  knowledge,  and  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time  he  utterly  refused  to  go  near  the 
place  again.  In  process  of  time  he  went  back, 
but  he  would  never  take  his  favourite  with  him  ; 
thus  showing,  that  while  he  entertained  no  re- 
sentment— by  his  own  return — the  only  feeling 
remaining  was  that^  of  distrust  in  reference  to 
his  horse. 

Wherever  Wesleyan  Methodism  was  re- 
spected, Samuel  was  sure  to  be  loved.  He 
was  a  genuine  believer  in  its  doctrines,  a  living 
witness  of  its  experimental  truths,  an  example 
of  its  purest  morals,  a  firm  supporter  of  its  dis- 
cipline, and  a  warm  friend  of  its  ministers.  Of 
the  latter,  he  ever  spoke  with  respect  and  affec- 
tion ;  and  if  his  holy  indignation  was  at  any 
time  kindled,  it  was  when  persons  endeavour- 
ed to  lower  their  character,  by  cold  oblique 
hints,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  when  an 
apparent  delight  was  taken  in  sowing  discord 
among  brethren.  Satisfied  with  his  privileges, 
he  avoided  such  as  were  given  to  change.  lie 
was  accustomed  to  say,  "  I  am  determined  to 
remain  in  the  old  ship.  She  has  carried  thou- 
sands across  the  ocean,  and  landed  them  safe 
in  glory  ;  and  if  I  stay  in  her,  she  will  carry 
me  there  too."*     Speaking  once  of   a   person 

*  Samuel  was  not  without  his  inducements  to  leave  the 
body.  Mr.  Sigston,  who  has  taken  such  a  prominent  part  in 
the  late  division  at  Leeds,  became  offendfd  in  1803,  and 


208  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

who  had  acted  in  the  capacity  of  a  local  preach- 
er, but  had  afterward  united  himself  to  another 
society,  he  resorted  to  his  favourite  figure  of  the 
"  old  ship,"  and  inquired  why  he  had  left  her, 
after  she  had  borne  him  so  long  in  safety  ? 
The  simile  was  taken  up  by  the  other,  who  in- 
timated that  she  was  in  danger  of  foundering. 
Samuel  returned,  "  You  should  not  have  been 
such  a  coward  as  to  leave  her,  but  should  have 
remained  on  board,  either  to  help  to  mend  her, 
or  prevent  her  from  going  to  the  bottom.  But 
you  have  forsaken  an  old  friend  ;  I  know  she 
is  sound  at  heart,  and  as  safe  as  ever."  "  My 
wife  and  I,"  said  he  to  another  person,  "are 
sailing  together  in  her.  Some  of  our  children 
are  with  us ;  we  are  getting  stronger ;"  and 
then,  with  a  fine  glow  of  feeling,  would  exclaim, 
"  We  shall  all  sail  to  heaven  together — I  know 
we  shall."  This  figurative  mode  of  expression 
was  rendered  very  popular  in  a  sermon  preached 

formed  a  small  society,  whoso  members  received  the  appella- 
tion of  Sigstonites.  They  field  their  meetings  in  a  room 
which  was  taken  for  the  purpose  in  Kirkgate.  The  head  ol 
this  small  party  was  known  by  a  few  of  the  friends  belong- 
ing to  the  Pontefract  circuit,  among  whom  two  extorters, 
and  two  accredited  local  preachers,  espoused  his  cause,  the 
latter  of  whom  were  never  very  remarkable  lor  submitting 
to  rule.  These  took  with  them  about  thirty  members  of  the 
society,  and  occupied  a  school-room  in  Knotting]?,  erected 
about  ten  yards  from  the  Methodist  chapel,  by  a  person  who, 
though  not  in  society,  took  unspeakable  pleasure  in  promo- 
ting the  division.  Samuel  was  earnestly  importuned  to 
unite  himself  to  the  Knottingly  dissentients,  and  was  told, 
as  an  inducement,,  that  he  should  have  a  certain  sum  pre 
sented  to  him  as  a  compensation  lor  ins  labours,  wherever  he 
preached.  It  argued  an  ignorance  of  Samuel's  character, 
to  think  that  ho  was  to  be  u  >ught  by  gold 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  209 

by  the  late  Rev,  Joseph  Benson,  on  scliism, 
about  the  time  of  Mr.  Kilham's  defection  from 
the  body ;  and  it  was  one  of  those  figures 
which  Samuel  could  work  without  much  dan- 
ger of  being  wrecked  in  its  management. 

The  religion  which  he  carried  into  the  fami- 
lies of  others,  and  recommended  in  his  public 
walks,  was  not  without  its  influence  at  home. 
Though  Martha  and  he  could  not  always  see 
eye  to  eye,  in  money  affairs — and  it  was  fortu- 
nate for  him  that  they  could  not — yet  he  was 
an  affectionate  husband,  as  well  as  a  tender 
father.  He  moved  before  his  family  more,  per- 
haps, in  the  character  of  a  priest,  to  pray  for 
them,  than  a  prophet  and  a  king,  to  instruct  and 
govern.  He  was  fitted  for  the  one  rather  than 
the  other ;  and  such  was  his  attention  to  the 
family  altar,  such  his  prevalent  intercession 
before  it,  that  his  incapacity  for  the  two  latter 
appeared  to  be  greatly  counterbalanced  by  the 
hallowed  character  of  the  former.  He  bore 
his  partner  and  his  children  constantly  before 
God,  in  the  arms  of  faith  and  prayer,  and  lived 
in  full  confidence  that  the  whole  would  be 
saved.  If  any  of  his  opinions,  more  than 
others,  bordered  upon  extravagance,  it  was 
upon  the  certain  salvation  of  the  children  of 
praying  parents.  The  possibility  of  perdition, 
in  the  case  of  any  of  them,  was  beyond  en- 
durance. 

Though  he  took  excursions  to  different  places, 
from  the  period  of  his  becoming  a  local  preach- 
er, yet  it  was  not  till  the  latter  part  of  1 825,  or 
14 


210  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  beginning  of  1820,  when  he  gave  up  busi- 
ness, that  he  took  a  more  extensive  range,  and 
considered  himself  as  doing  the  work,  and 
therefore  entitled  to  the  name  and  honours  of  a 
home  missionary.  He  was  then  possessed 
of  what  he  deemed  sufficient  for  the  support  of 
himself  and  his  aged  partner,  during  the  even- 
ing of  life.  Being  now  at  liberty  from  the 
trammels  of  business,  he  was  invited  into  seve- 
ral circuits  in  Yorkshire  and  Lancashire,  all  of 
which  he  visited,  preaching  in  the  different 
towns  and  villages,  and  in  many  of  which  he 
was  not  only  useful  in  the  conversion  of  sin- 
ners, but  in  raising  pecuniary  supplies  for  the 
support  of  foreign  missions,  the  erection  and 
relief  of  places  of  worship. 

While  gratifying  the  benevolent  feelings  of 
his  heart,  in  obeying  the  calls  of  the  people, 
he  not  unfrequently  suffered  various  inconve- 
niences, notwithstanding  the.  kindness  of  friends. 
An  instance  which  occurred  a  short  time  prior 
to  this  part  of  his  history,  but  which  it  would 
not  be  well  to  omit,  betokening  great  absence 
of  mind  on  the  part  of  the  persons  on  the  spot, 
presents  him  under  very  unpleasant  circum- 
stances. He  attended  a  missionary  meeting  at 
Rigton  in  the  Forest,  a  place  belonging  to  the 
Otley  circuit,  about  three  or  four  miles  from 
Harrowgate.  "  We  had  a  blessed  meeting," 
said  Samuel :  "  I  was  very  happy,  and  gave  all 
the  money  1  had  in  my  pocket."  After  the 
meeting  was  concluded,  he  mounted  his  horse 
to  return  home.     And  in  what  aspect  is  he  to 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  21 J 

be  viewed?  Without  any  one  offering  to  pay 
his  expenses — not  the  value  of  a  farthing  in  his 
pocket — advanced  in  life — a  slow  rider,  and 
not  a  very  sprightly  horse — near  the  end  of 
October,  when  the  season  was  breaking  up — in 
the  night — alone — and  about  twenty  miles  from 
his  own  house.  He  became  the  subject  of 
temptation.  It  was  suggested — "  No  money  to 
procure  a  feed  of  corn  for  thy  horse,  or  re- 
freshment for  thyself — and  friends  who  might 
receive  thee  are  gone  to  bed  !"  The  struggle 
was  short;  and  the  victory  was  obtained  in  his 
own  way.  Satan  found  no  place  in  him  for 
either  repining  or  distrust.  "  I  shaped  him  his 
answer,"  observed  Samuel,  "and  said,  'Devil, 
I  never  stack  fast  yet.'  "  With  his  confidence 
invigorated  by  a  recollection  of  past  mercy,  his 
happiness  returned,  and  he  remained  the  only 
nightingale  of  Christianity  on  the  road,  till  he 
reached  the  village  of  Harewood.  Then  a 
gentleman  who  knew  him  took  his  horse  by  the 
bridle,  and  asked  him  where  he  had  been.  He 
gave  him,  in  replv,  an  account  of  the  meeting  ; 
from  which  the  gentleman  glided  into  the  sub- 
ject of  his  temporal  concerns,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain apparently  how  far  a  report  was  correct, 
which  he  had  heard  respecting  some  property 
out  of  which  Samuel  had  been  wronged.  Sam- 
uel told  him  that  he  had  "had  two  thousand 
pounds  left"  to  him,  but  had  "  been  deprived  of 
it."*     "  I  am  very  sorry  for  you,"  was  the  re- 

*  The  report  heard  by  the  one,  and  the  language  employed 
by  the  other,  would  scarcely  comport  with  the  subject,  if 


212  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

joinder.  Samuel  replied,  "  Though  I  have 
been  deprived  of  this,  it  has  never  deprived 
me  of  an  hour's  sleep.  I  never  had  a  worse 
lot  for  it.  I  have  not  wanted  for  any  good 
tiling,  and  could  always  say  with  Job,  '  The 
Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  taketh  away  :  blessed 
be  t  he  name  of  the  Lord.'  Though  he  took 
Job's,  he  has  not  taken  the  whole  of  my  pro- 
perty :  I  still  have  all  my  children."  The  gen- 
tleman asked,  "  Can  you  read  ?"  "  Yes," 
returned  Samuel,  "if  I  had  my  spectacles  out 
of  my  pocket."  "  There,"  replied  the  gentle- 
man, holding  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  hand, 
which  was  rendered  visible  by  the  glimmering 
light  of  the  stars — "  There  is  a  five  pound  note 
for  you.  You  love  God  and  his  cause  ;  and  I 
believe  yon  will  never  want."  Samuel's  eyes 
were  instantly  filled  with  tears,  and  his  heart 
with  gratitude.  "  Here,"  said  he,  "I  saw  the 
salvation  of  God.  I  cried  for  joy  all  the  way 
as  I  went  down  the  lonesome  lanes  ;  and  when 
I  got  to  a  public  house,  1  asked  the  landlord  if 
he  could  change  me  a  live-pound  bill ;  for  1  told 
him  1  could  not  have  any  thing  for  myself  or 

applied  to  a  particular  event  which  took  place.  Martha's 
brother,  who  had  a  considerable  sum  of  money  on  interest 
in  Royd's  Iron  Works,  near  Leeds,  expressed  a  wish  to  live 
and  die  W  Hh  Samuel  ;  proposing  to  allow  the  interest  for  his 
maintenance  during  life,  and  the  principal  at  his  death. 
The  proposal  was  accepted — her  brother  resided  with  them 
— the  Company  at  the  Iron  Works  failed — the  whole  of  the 
property  was  swept  away  —  Samuel's  hopes  were  blighted, 
vet  he  generously  kepi  him  in  his  own  house  till  the  day  of 
his  death,  and  thus  prevented  what  must  otherwise  inevita 
bly  have  ensued — his  going  to  the  workhouse. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  213 

my  horse,  unless  he  could  change  it.  He  said 
he  could,  if  it  were  a  good  one.  So  I  got  off 
my  horse,  and  ordered  him  a  good  feed  of  corn, 
and  had  some  refreshment  for  myself.  This 
was  a  fair  salvation  from  the  Lord.  When  I 
got  home,  I  told  my  wife  ;  she  brast  (burst)  into 
tears;  and  we  praised  the  Lord  together."  This 
was  viewed  by  Samuel  somewhat  in  the  light 
of  a  triumph  over  Martha,  who  had  chided  him 
in  the  morning  for  taking  so  much  money  from 
home  with  him,  to  a  missionary  meeting,  to 
which  he  gave  his  time,  his  labours,  and  ex- 
penses. He  therefore  added,  by  way  of  making 
his  path  more  open  to  the  purse  in  future, 
"  You  see,  we  never  give  to  the  Lord,  but  he 
gives  in  return." 

His  addresses  in  the  pulpit  rarely  extended 
beyond  half  an  hour.  This  afforded  time  to 
engage  in  the  work  which  was  his  favourite 
employment — a  prayer  meeting  ;  and  these 
meetings  furnished  him  very  often  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  progress  of  the  word  of  life, 
as  the  benefits  received  under  preaching  were 
more  fully  developed  in  them,  as  well  as  che- 
rished by  the  intercessory  prayers  of  the  faith- 
ful. Having  the  unction  of  the  Holy  One — an 
anointing  which  he  received  from  him  that 
abode  in  him — he  was  enabled  to  proceed  in 
the  work  with  cheerful ness,  and  very  often 
carried  with  him  a  commanding  authority  over 
the  feelings  and  conduct  of  others.  He  was 
frequently  under  high  excitation;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  as  sometimes  to  overpower  his  physical 


214  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

energies.  "  0,"  said  he  to  his  friend  Mr.  D. 
once,  after  a  missionary  meeting  at  Howdcn, 
in  which  he  had  pleaded  the  cause  of  the 
heathen  on  the  platform,  till  he  was  nearly  ex- 
hausted— "  0,"  said  he,  "  I  am  so  happy.  I 
shall  surely  die  some  of  these  times !"  On 
another  occasion,  when  at  Pontefract,  he  re- 
marked to  a  friend,  after  the  meeting,  with 
ecstatic  feeling,  and  in  his  own  peculiarly  ex- 
pressive language,  "  I  felt  as  though  I  should 
have  swelled  (melted)  away  to  heaven."  This 
is  no  common  thought — not  even  to  he  ex- 
ceeded by  Pope's  "  Dying  Christian,"  whom 
lie  represents  as  languishing  into  life.  It  is 
only  in  cases  like  this  that  we  feel  the  force 
of  Coleridge's  remark  in  the  motto  selected  for 
the  memoir;  and  feel,  too,  a  disposition  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  sentiments  of  a  critic,  in  a  number 
of  Blackwood's  Magazine,  where  he  observes, 
"  That  the  knowledge  that  shone  but  by  fits 
and  dimly  upon  the  eyes  of  Socrates  and  Plato, 
whose  eyes  rolled  in  vain  to  find  the  light,  has 
descended  into  various  lands  as  well  as  our 
own — even  into  the  huts  where  poor  men  lie  ; 
and  thoughts  are  familiar  there,  beneath  the  low 
and  smoky  roof,  higher  and  more  sublime  than 
ever  flowed  from  the  lips  of  a  Grecian  sage, 
meditating  among  the  magnificence  of  his 
pillared  temples. "  Though  the  expression, 
"  pleading  the  cause  of  the  heathen,"  may  be  a 
little  too  argumentative  in  its  character,  when 
applied  to  the  speeches  and  addresses  of  the 
"  Village     Blacksmith,"   and   may    excite    the 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  215 

laugh  in  those  who  employ  the  head,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  heart,  in  such  work  ;  yet  Samuel's 
honest  and  pathetic  appeals  very  often  touched 
the  feelings  and  raised  the  "  cash  accounts'' — 
raised  perhaps  with  a  smile — when  the  dull 
spirits,  sapless  speeches,  and  tedious  readings 
of  those  who  could  see  a  greater  curse  in  a 
little  incoherence  and  hilarity  than  in  luke- 
warmness,  produced  only  listlessness  and  a 
yawn. 

A  still  more  expressive  sentiment  was  em- 
ployed by  him,  when  preaching  once  in  his 
own  neighbourhood,  on  "  The  Spirit  and  the 
bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth 
say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 
And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of 
life  freely."  He  expatiated  on  the  value  and 
uses  of  water,  as  far  as  common  observation 
allowed  him  to  proceed, — passing  from  that 
element  to  the  "  water  of  life,"  which  formed 
the  prominent  feature  of  his  text, — urging  the 
freedom  with  which  it  was  offered, — and  finally 
impressing  his  hearers  with  the  importance  of 
the  subject.  He  told  them,  in  speaking  of  its 
value,  that  he  himself  was  unacquainted  with 
it, — that  he  doubted  whether  any  of  his  hearers 
knew  how  to  appreciate  it, — that  he  doubted 
whether  there  was  a  person  upon  the  face  o. 
the  earth  who  knew  its  worth, — nay,  further, 
that  he  did  n«»t  believe  an  angel  in  heaven 
could  enter  into  its  merit, — that,  in  short,  ho 
never  heard  of  but  one  who  knew  its  real  value, 
and  "  that  was  the  rich  man  in  hell,  who  would 


216  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

have  given  a  world  for  a  drop  of  it."  The 
chmacterical  manner  in  which  he  thus  worked 
his  way  up  to  the  point  which  lie  wished  to 
gain — like  St.  Paul's  light  afflictions  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory — the  amazing  contrast  between 
a  world  and  a  drop — that  drop  solicited  by  a 
tongue  of  fire — and  the  eternal  destinies  of  his 
hearers  suspended  on  their  acceptance  of  offered 
grace,  to  prevent  the  untimely  knowledge  of 
its  worth  by  its  loss  in  perdition,  would  have 
done  honour  to  the  first  orators,  in  the  best 
days  of  classic  Greece  and  Rome. 

During  some  of  his  moments  of  inspiration, 
he  would  manifest  considerable  impatience, 
when  he  was  likely  to  be  deprived  of  an  op- 
portunity of  giving  vent  to  the  overflowings  of 
his  mind.  A  speaker  at  a  missionary  meeting, 
who  prosed  a  good  deal,  indicted  a  heavy 
punishment  upon  him  in  this  way.  Long  be- 
fore he  had  concluded,  Samuel  appeared  ex- 
tremely uneasy.  "  Sit  still,  Sammy,"  said  the 
chairman  in  an  under  tone,  being  near  him,  and 
on  terms  of  intimacy.  "  He  is  too  long  by  the 
half,"  returned  Samuel.  After  sitting  awhile, 
with  his  hands  clenched,  and  fixed  between 
his  knees,  as  in  a  vice,  he  again  manifested 
symptoms  of  restlessness ;  when  again  the 
chairman  endeavoured  quietly  to  impose  silence, 
and  inspire  a  little  long-suffering.  Various 
rounds  were  exchanged  between  them,  one  re- 
questing the  other  to  "be  still,"  and  the  other 
requesting  that  the  speaker,  who  was  uncon- 
scious of  what  was  passing  in  the  rear,  might 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  217 

be  told  to  "  give  over."  The  good  brother  con- 
tinued prosing,  without  the  least  sign  of  coming, 
in  any  moderate  length  of  time,  to  a  close. 
Samuel,  at  length,  started  up — who,  by  the 
way,  spoke  only  the  feelings  of  others,  who 
possessed  more  self-command  and  prudence, 
though  less  courage,  and  said,  turning  to  the 
chairman,  "  Sir,  that  brother  does  not  love  his 
neighbour  as  himself;  he  does  not  take  the 
Scriptural  rule  of  doing  to  others  as  he  would 
that  others  should  do  to  him,  for  he  will  let  no 
body  speak  but  himself."  Here  the  business 
dropped  between  the  parties ;  the  speaker  be- 
ing left  to  take  the  credit  of  having  pleased  all 
except  Samuel,  and  Samuel  brushed  up  his 
better  feelings  to  engage  the  attention  of  the 
people  during  the  few  moments  allotted  to  him, 
as  the  seconder  of  the  resolution.  Being 
coupled  on  another  occasion  with  a  popular 
speaker,  Samuel  turned  to  him,  and  said,  "They 
have  paired  us  like  rabbits." 

The  Rev.  J.  Roadhouse,  having  heard  either 
that  he  had  actually  declined  business,  or  was 
on  the  eve  of  it,  invited  him,  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  1825,  to  pay  the  friends  a  visit  at  Cross 
Hills,  a  place  in  the  Addingham  circuit.  A 
few  weeks  passed  over,  and  not  having  heard 
from  Samuel,  the  invitation  began  to  wear  away 
from  recollection.  About  the  middle  of  No- 
vember, Samuel  one  day  unexpectedly  made 
his  appearance,  mounted  on  "  Jackey."  The 
latter  was  cheerfully  provided  for  by  a  friend, 
and  Samuel  took  up  his  abode  with  Mr.  Road- 


218  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

house.  He  generally  accompanied  Mr.  R.  to 
the  different  places  of  preaching — commenced 
the  service  with  singing"  and  prayer — spoke 
from  ten  to  twenty  minutes — and  then  gave 
place  to  Mr.  II.  to  conclude  the  service.  On 
one  of  these  occasions,  he  broke  off  his  address 
rather  abruptly,  and  suddenly  stepping  back  in 
the  pulpit,  said,  "  Brother  R.  will  now  preach 
to  you,  for  two  sermons  are  better  than  one." 
A  good  feeling  having  been  excited,  Mr.  R. 
commenced  his  address,  by  an  allusion  to  the 
words  of  the  Jewish  monarch,  "  What  shall  the 
man  do  who  cometh  after  the  king?"  Samuel, 
before  any  application  could  be  made,  ex- 
claimed, "  Do  !  you  will  do  well  enough,  only 
go  on."  The  service  terminated  much  better 
than  this  unexpected  interlude  at  first  promised. 
Two  persons  were  deeply  affected  with  his 
public  address  ;  and  at  another  place  five  per- 
sons were  brought  to  a  state  of  penitence. 

The  great  commercial  depression  which  dis- 
tinguished the  close  of  this  year  was  just  be- 
ginning to  be  experienced.  Many  of  the  poor 
people  in  Addingham  and  its  neighbourhood 
.•sold  part  of  their  furniture,  and  whatever  they 
could  spare  of  other  things,  in  order  to  procure 
food.  Samuel  visited  them;  and  after  having 
given  all  the  money  away  which  he  had  deemed 
sullicient  for  his  journey,  a  poor  boy  entered 
the  door-way  of  a  house  where  he  was  sitting. 
The  weather  was  cold,  and  the  boy  was  with- 
out neckerchief.  Samuel  pitied  him — asked 
for  a  pair  of  scissors — took  his  handkerchief 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  219 

from  his  own  pocket — cut  it  into  halves — and 
tied  one  of  them  around  the  neck  of  the  poor 
little  fellow — rejoicing  in  the  opportunity  af- 
forded of  clothing  the  naked. 

He  remained  here  nearly  three  weeks  ;  and 
just  as  he  was  leaving  Mr.  Roadhouse,  to  pro- 
ceed to  his  friends  at  Grassington,  he  thanked 
him  for  his  kindness  toward  him,  and  then  with 
tears  said,  "  You  must  let  me  have  some  money 
to  pay  the  toll  bars,  and  get  Jackey  a  feed  of 
corn."  Till  now,  Mr.  R.  was  not  aware  that 
he  was  pennyless  ;  and  yet,  in  the  midst  of  it, 
he  seemed  more  mindful  of  his  horse  than  of 
liimself.  After  having  spent  a  short  time  at 
Grassington,  he  visited  Skipton,  where  he  re- 
mained three  weeks,  and  was  rendered  very 
useful  in  different  parts  of  the  circuit.  Miss 
Listerof  Colne,  (now  Mrs.  Howarth  of  Clithero,) 
having  heard  much  of  his  zeal,  and  power 
with  God  in  prayer,  sent  an  invitation  to  him  to 
spend  a  few  days  at  her  house.  Here  also  he 
tarried  nearly  three  weeks,  taking  occasional 
rambles  into  the  Burnley  circuit.  Some  of  the 
persons  who  were  brought  to  God  through  his 
labours  during  this  visit  have  reached  the  goal, 
and  others  are  pressing  toward  the  mark,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  prize.  From  Colne  he  pro- 
ceeded home,  where  he  remained  but  a  short 
time,  yielding  to  other  invitations. 

We  find  him  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hud- 
dersfield  and  Denby-Dale,  in  the  latter  part  of 
January,  1826,  with  E.  Brook,  Esq.,  as  his 
companion  in  labour.     His  attention  to  others 


220  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

led  him  to  neglect  himself;  and  the  latter,  find- 
ing him  without  a  proper  winter  covering, 
purchased  an  excellent  top-coat  to  preserve  him 
from  the  cold.  But  though  he  was  thus  equip- 
ped, and  could  speak  of  "  plenty  of  coals"  and 
"  good  fires,"  the  "  cold  storms"  which  howled 
around  him,  and  the  heavy  "  snows"  which  fell, 
kindled  the  sensibilities  of  his  nature  toward 
Martha,  whom  he  had  left  at  home,  and  whom 
lie  addressed  in  his  letters,  as  his  "  dear  bosom- 
friend."  In  a  letter  dated  January  24th,  from 
Denby-Dale,  he  exhorted  his  daughter  to  do 
all  in  her  "  power"  to  "  make"  her  "  dear  mother 
comfortable" — to  "  keep  her  well  happed  up  by 
day  and  by  night" — to  "  give  her  a  little  wine  to 
nourish  her" — assuring  her  that  she  should  "  be 
recompensed" — requesting  her  to  write  imme- 
diately should  any  thing  untoward  trxke  place — 
and  telling  her,  that  he  bore  them  all  up,  "  both 
in  public  and  private,  at  a  throne  of  grace." 
He  solicited  a  "  long  letter"  in  return,  inform- 
ing him  how  they  were  "  going  on  in  the  best 
things ;"  whether  or  not  "  Mrs.  Porter"  was 
dead;  and  then,  with  the  fondness  of  a  grand- 
father— the  cherub  forms  twining  around  his 
heart,  and  romping  about  in  his  imagination — 
he  adds,  "  Let  me  know  how  my  dear  grand- 
child does,"  and  say  whether  she  can  yet 
"  run,"  holding  out  "  her  bonny  little  hand." 
This  is  a  stroke  of  pure  nature.  The  autumn 
of  life  turns  away  from  the  gloom  of  its  winter, 
and  seems  to  be  perpetually  reverting  to  the 
freshness,    and    bloom,    and    loveliness   of  its 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  221 

spring,  as  though  anxious  to  live  it  over  again 
in  the  innocent  child,  or  by  feeling  after  it,  and 
catching  hold  of  some  of  its  joys,  it  experienced 
a  kind  of  resuscitation,  and  went  forth  with 
renewed  vigour. 

While  in  this  quarter  he  spoke  of  having 
"  plenty  of  work,  and  good  wages" — the  wages 
of  "  peace,  joy,  and  love," — of  sinners  being 
"  saved," — of  "  backsliders"  being  healed, — of 
God  placing  "  the  ring"  on  the  finger,  and  "  the 
shoes  on  the  feet"  of  the  returning  "  prodigal." 
His  mind,  he  observed,  was  "  kept  in  perfect 
peace  ;"  and  such  was  the  joy  he  experienced, 
such  his  "  prospect  of  glory,"  when  he  arose 
one  morning,  that  he  concluded  that  the  Lord 
was  either  about  to  "  fit"  him  "  for  some  trial," 
or  to  grant  him  instant  preparation  for  his 
"  glorious  inheritance."  He  had  been  engaged 
in  the  course  of  the  week  in  which  he  wrote 
in  begging  for  a  chapel,  "  the  ground"  of  which, 
he  observed,  was  given  to  him  by  "  Mr.  D.,  of 
Highflats,"  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends ; 
and  the  week  after  he  purposed  going  to  "  Penis- 
tone,"  to  assist  in  begging  for  another  chapel  in 
that  place. 

In  his  perambulations  among  the  sick  and 
the  poor,  he  entered  the  house  of  a  woman 
with  seven  children,  who  had  only  had  one 
pound  of  animal  food  for  the  family  for  the 
space  of  about  four  weeks.  Her  tale  of  distress 
required  no  embellishment  to  find  access  to  the 
ear  and  heart  of  Samuel.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
it,  he  gave  her  some  money  to  procure  "  a  meat 


222  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

dinner"  for  herself  and  children  the  following 
day. 

After  "  finishing  his  work,"  as  he  termed  it, 
in  that  neighbourhood,  be  returned  home,  where 
he  again  remained  but  a  short  time.  He  set  off 
for  Rochdale  in  February  or  March,  taking  Brad- 
ford on  his  way,  at  which  place  he  was  pressed 
to  remain  from  Tuesday  to  Thursday,  preach- 
ing at  Great-] lorton  and  Low  Moor,  and  holding 
prayer  meetings.  On  reaching  Rochdale,  where 
he  had  some  family  affairs  to  settle,  he  found 
ample  ground  for  the  exercise  of  bis  patience, 
through  the  nefarious  conduct  of  a  female  and 
some  others,  who  had  appropriated  to  them- 
selves the  wearing  apparel  and  other  property 
which  was  left  to  his  wife  by  her  sister,  Mrs 
L.,  denying  at  the  same  time  such  appropria- 
tion. His  want  of  confidence  in  the  gentlemen 
of  the  law  made  him  decline  all  legal  measures  ; 
and  his  faith  in  God  led  him  to  believe  that 
things  would  work  around  to  a  proper  point,  in 
the  order  of  Divine  Providence  ;  and  though  tried 
at  first,  he  soon  lost  all  sense  of  wrong,  in  the 
means  of  grace  in  which  he  was  constantly 
engaged,  the  prospect  of  a  visit  to  Manchester, 
and  the  services  connected  with  the  opening  of 
a  new  chapel  at  Rochdale,  stating  the  amount 
of  the  collections  and  subscriptions  "  to  be  nearly 
two  thousand  pounds,"  and  exhorting  Martha  to 
make  progress  in  pietv,  and  to  solace  herself 
with  the  thought  that  though  she  was  deprived 
of  her  right  in  her  sister's  wardrobe  here,  she 
should   hereafter  receive  "  a  white  garment,' 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  223 

one  that  would  "  never  grow  threadbare."  With 
what  kind  of  grace  Martha  received  the  ex- 
hortation and  encouragement,  is  not  for  the 
writer  to  state  :  but  she  must  have  viewed  it  as 
a  poor  apology  for  indifference  in  his  own 
cause,  as  well  as  an  inadequate  protection  from 
the  cold  of  winter.  Muffled  up  in  his  "  new 
top-coat,"  and  forgetting  his  advice  to  his  daugh- 
ter, to  "hap"  her  "mother  by  night  and  by 
day,"  he  now,  with  the  opportunity  before  him, 
of  adding  to  her  attire,  seemed  to  act  on  the 
comfortless  principle  of  "  Be  ye  warmed,"  or  as 
though  she  had  been  all  spirit,  and  the  bare  men- 
tion of  a  future  state  was  sufficient  to  kindle  a 
fire  that  would  warm  the  whole  system.  But 
Martha  found  she  had  a  body  as  well  as  a  soul : 
however,  she  knew  he  meant  well ;  and  this 
was  only  one  case  among  many  in  which  she 
had  to  bear  with  him,  and  to  look  for  "  treasure 
in  heaven,"  as  a  substitute  for  a  little  more 
upon  earth. 

Though  he  rose  superior  to  the  trials  of  this 
case,  when  immediately  engaged  in  preaching 
and  visiting,  yet  there  were  moments  when  its 
hardships  returned  upon  him,  so  as  to  lead  him 
to  dwell  upon  them  in  conversation  with  his 
friends.  Mrs.  L.,  one  of  Martha's  sisters,  was 
possessed  of  jC600  on  her  marriage.  The  in- 
terest of  this,  should  she  die  first,  was  to  be 
enjoyed  by  her  husband,  and  then  the  principal 
was  to  revert  to  her  own  family  on  his  demise. 
Contrary  to  the  original  agreement,  .£500  of 
this  was  made  over  by  the  husband  to  a  member 


224  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

of  his  own  family,  and  Martha  was  cut  off 
with  the  remainder.  To  secure  this,  she  was 
obliged  to  visit  Rochdale,  in  order  to  sign  the 
writings ;  and  being  extremely  infirm,  the  ex- 
pense, added  to  the  difficulty  of  conveyance, 
rendered  the  journey  painful  and  tedious. 
Samuel  thought,  on  coining  to  the  whole  of  this 
property,  that  he  would  be  able  to  devote  more 
of  his  time  to  the  public  service  of  his  Saviour. 
Looking  back  upon  the  expense,  trouble,  and 
disappointment,  he  observed  to  Mr.  Dawson 
once,  "  I  have  prayed  to  the  Lord,  that  he  would 
send  me  no  more  miser  money."  Mr.  D.  very 
significantly  returned,  "  I  dare  say  your  prayer 
will  be  answered,  Samuel." 

Having  received  invitations  to  different  places, 
and  being  generally  mounted  on  his  blind,  but 
favourite  horse,  "  Jackey,"  whom  he  esteemed 
lor  his  works'  sake — having  carried  the  heralds 
of  peace  for  some  years  around  the  York  circuit 
— he  was  enabled  to  extend  his  circle.  It  was 
in  the  course  of  this  journey  that  he  left,  as 
previously  promised,  his  MS.  life  with  the 
writer  at  Manchester.  lie  extended  his  circuit 
to  Bolton,  Clithero,  Colne,  Addingham,  Grass- 
ington,  Burnley,  Padiham,  Bacup,  Rossendale, 
Bury,  Ratcliffo  Close,  and  many  of  the  adjacent 
and  intermediate  places.  The  absence  of  the 
Rev.  W.  M'Kitrick  from  the  Burnley  circuit, 
who  had  been  called  to  Leeds  to  attend  to  some 
family  arrangements,  led  Samuel  to  remain 
longer  in  Burnley  and  its  neighbourhood  than 
in  some  other  places,  being  rcrpuested  to  attend 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  225 

,o  Mr.  M'K.'s  appointments.  The  effects  of 
the  "  general  panic,"  so  called,  were  still  ex- 
perienced, both  by  the  manufacturers  and  their 
men  ;  and  few  districts  suffered  more  than  the 
one  from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  around  the  circle 
in  which  he  laboured.  The  sick  and  poor  were 
the  objects  of  his  constant  solicitude;  and 
many  were  the  scenes  of  distress  he  witnessed, 
as  well  as  the  cases  he  relieved.  Writing  to  a 
friend,  he  remarks,  "  I  have  seen  much  suffer- 
ing and  many  privations  since  I  saw  you.  The 
sufferings  of  the  people  have  been  neither  few 
nor  small.  I  have  been  in  the  midst  of  them 
for  three  months ;  and  I  believe  my  dear  Lord 
and  Master  has  sent  me  here.  What  with 
praying  with  the  people,  and  what  with  begging 
for  them,  I  have  had  full  employment.  I  was 
so  affected  one  night  that  I  could  not  take  my 
rest.''  Though  he  took  a  fair  sum  of  his  own 
money  into  the  neighbourhood  with  him,  it  was 
soon  exhausted.  The  friends  were  kind  to  him  in 
granting  him  supplies  ;  but  he  was  always  poor  ; 
for  no  sooner  were  his  resources  recruited, 
than  he  flew  to  the  haunts  of  wretchedness, 
prayed  with  the  people,  conversed  with  them, 
and  wept  over  them.  One  circumstance  whicli 
affected  him  more  than  almost  any  other  which 
came  under  his  observation  was  the  case  of  a 
poor  child,  whom  he  saw  sitting  and  satisfying 
the  cravings  of  hunger  by  devouring  some 
grains  which  had  been  brought  from  a  brew- 
house. 

On  finding  the  demands  made  upon  his  bene- 
15 


22G  TUF.    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

volencc  pressing  him  beyond  what  he  was  able 
to  endure,  he  asked  some  friends  whether  some- 
thing could  not  be  done  by  way  of  public  sub- 
scription. He  was  answered  that  the  bulk  of 
the  people  were  poor,  and  that  the  manufac- 
turers were  equally  distressed  with  the  persons 
they  had  employed,  and  were  obliged  to  dis- 
miss, because  of  a  want  of  trade  and  public 
confidence.  He  was  informed,  however,  that 
there  was  one  gentleman  in  the  neighbourhood, 
of  great  opulence,  who  was  capable  of  im- 
parting seasonable  and  adequate  relief — only, 
the  informants  intimated,  that  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  might 
not  be  quite  accessible  to  persons  making  Pro- 
testant appeals.  "  No  matter  what  he  is,"  re- 
turned Samuel,  "  the  people  are  not  to  starve." 
Addressing  the  same  friend  in  the  letter  just 
referred  to,  he  observes,  "  I  asked  them  to  go 
with  me,  but  they  refused,  because  of  his  re- 
ligion. I  told  them,  that  the  Lord  had  the  hearts 
of  all  men  in  his  keeping,  and  that  he  kept  the 
hearts  of  the  Roman  Catholics  also.  I  went 
to  the  Lord  and  asked  him  to  go  with  me."  It 
was  too  late  in  the  evening  for  him  lo  present 
the  case  ;  but  he  was  up  betimes  the  next 
morning,  when,  mounted  on  his  favourite  horse, 
he  proceeded  to  Towneley  Hall,  near  Burnley, 
the  residence  of  Peregrine  Edward  Towneley, 
Esq.  He  knocked  at  the  door,  and  the  knock 
being  answered  by  a  servant  not  in  livery> 
vhom  he  thought  sufficiently  gentlemanly  in 
k^i  i  appearance  to  be  the  master  of  the  domain 


THE    VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH.  227 

he  asked  at  once,  "  Are  you  Mr.  TWneley, 
sir  V  Being  answered  in  the  negative,  he  in- 
quired, "  Can  I  see  him,  sir  ?"  The  servant  re- 
plied he  could,  and  showed  him  into  a  room. 
Mr.  Towneley  soon  appeared,  and  with  his 
usual  promptitude,  frankness,  and  condescen- 
sion, inquired  the  errand  of  his  visiter.  Mr. 
T.,  though  perfectly  gentlemanly  in  his  manners 
— which  the  biographer  knows  from  personal 
interview — yet  happens  to  be  one  of  those 
characters  who  prefer  their  real  worth  to  be 
brought  to  the  test  of  the  understanding  and  the 
heart,  rather  than  in  the  show  of  fashion  and 
finery  to  the  eye;  his  attire,  therefore,  being 
somewhat  less  prepossessing  than  that  of  the 
person  who  opened  the  hall  door,  Samuel  had 
recourse  to  his  old  question,  to  ascertain  the 
fact — "  Are  you  Mr.  Towneley,  sir  V  This 
point  being  settled,  he  proceeded  with  his 
"  tale  of  wo" — stating  what  he  had  seen,  heard, 
and  done,  finally  bringing  the  subject  home  to 
the  bosom  and  to  the  coffers  of  his  auditor.  "  I 
am  come,  sir,"  said  he,  "  to  relate  to  you  the 
suffering  state  of  the  poor  in  Burnley.  I  have 
been  a  month  in  the  neighbourhood  ;  and  my 
employment  has  been  to  visit  them.  Many  of 
them  are  without  religion.  It  affects  my  mind 
that  I  cannot  help  them.  I  have  given  alt 
the  money  I  had  ;  I  am  now  between  fifty  and 
sixty  miles  from  my  own  home  ;  and  if  I  had  a 
turnpike-gale  to  go  through,  I  have  not  a  penny 
to  pay  it  with.  If  something  is  not  done  for  the 
poor,  they  will  be  pined  to  death,  and  it  will 


228      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

bring  a  judgment  upon  our  island."  "  The 
poor,"  returned  Mr.  Towneley,  "  must  be  re- 
lieved ;  but  how  is  it  to  be  done  ?"  Samuel 
replied,  "  The  best  way  will  be  to  call  a  meet- 
ing of  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
and  to  form  a  committee ;  and  then  present 
relief  will  be  given."  Mr.  T.  was  affected  with 
his  simplicity,  and  being  convinced  of  his  in- 
tegrity, observed,  that  if  any  measure  could  be 
devised  to  promote  the  public  good,  he  would 
with  great  pleasure  accede  to  it,  and  would  set 
the  example  of  a  public  subscription.  He 
further  added,  that  he  would  be  glad  to  meet  a 
committee  of  gentlemen,  at  the  earliest  period, 
and  at  any  hour  of  the  day.  Samuel  proceeded, 
"  This  noble  man  sent  the  next  morning,  by 
his  steward,  jC150  for  the  sufferers."  A  public 
meeting  immediately  followed  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  into  consideration  the  distress  of  the 
poor;  and  if  the  "Village  Blacksmith"  had 
not  the  credit  of  entirely  originating — of 
which  perhaps  few  will  be  disposed  to  rob 
him — he  was,  at  least,  the  cause  of  hasten- 
ing it. 

Suffering  in  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  led 
to  violence.  "  But,"  said  Samuel,  "  my  soul 
was  kept  in  perfect  peace  in  the  midst  of  all. 
Our  friends  would  not  let  me  leave  them  till 
the  disturbances  ceased.  I  prayed  for  the 
people,  and  warned  them  of  their  danger.  1 
told  them,  that  if  they  did  not  drop  it,  they 
would  be  cut  off;  and  the  Lord  stayed  the 
wrath   of  man.    When    the    Lord   works,    he 


THE   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  229 

works  like  a  God.*  He  stopped  the  way  of 
the  wicked." 

The  writer  attended  a  missionary  meeting  at 
Clithero,  in  the  course  of  the  spring,  at  which 
Samuel  was  present,  and  at  which  he  spoke. 
Samuel  preached  on  the  occasion,  early  in  the 
morning,  and  improved  the  case  of  the  jailer  at 
Plnlippi,  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
taking  for  his  text  the  31st  verse.  Many  of  the 
thoughts  were  original — some  of  them  touching 
— not  a  few  pertinent — but,  as  a  whole,  without 
connection. 

Though  his  addresses,  from  a  want  of  classi- 
fication, might  be  brought  under  the  general 
appellation  of  truth  at  random,  still  it  was 
truth  ;  and  as  such,  God,  in  the  aboundings  of 
his  mercy  to  the  sinner,  and  in  condescension 
to  the  instrument,  honoured  it  with  the  stamp  of 

*  A  poor,  but  pious  negro-woman,  being  addressed  by  her 
teacher  on  the  goodness  of  God,  was  asked,  whether  she 
was  not  astonished  at  bis  mercy  in  giving  his  Son,  and  his 
condescension  in  giving  that  Son  for  her.  She  replied,  she 
was  not.  Supposing  she  was  not  sufficiently  impressed  with 
the  subject,  and  defective  in  the  fine  feeling  of  gratitude,  he 
continued  to  expatiate  on  the  easiness  and  freedom  of  his 
love,  giving  additional  emphasis  to  his  language,  and  colour- 
ing to  his  subject,  closing  again  with  the  question,  "What, 
are  you  not  astonished  at  this  ?"  "  No,  massa,"  was  still 
the  reply.  Turning  upon  her  with  a  degree  of  impatience, 
"  And  why  are  you  not  astonished?"  he  inquired.  "  Why, 
massa,  me  no  astonished,  because  it  be  just  like  him  !"  The 
simplicity  and  sublimity  of  this  sentiment,  winch  borders 
upon  that  of  Samuel  Hick,  but  leaving  him  still  in  the  rear, 
both  for  originality  and  beauty,  is  rarely  to  be  equalled  by 
the  sayings  <>t  persons  in  educated  society,  and  fills  us  with 
regret  to  think  that  the  body  of  a  mind  so  fit  for  freedom, 
should  be  in  bondage  to  one  probably  many  degrees  hei  in- 
terior in  intellect. 


230  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

his  own  signet.  A  person  but  indifferently 
skilled  in  incentives  to  vanity,  asked  Samuel 
one  day,  how  it  could  be  accounted  for,  that 
while  some  of  the  most  polished  and  systematic 
discourses  of  some  preachers  fell  pointless  upon 
the  hearts  of  the  hearers,  Ms  homely  addresses 
took  such  effect.  "  Why,"  returned  Samuel, 
"  their  preaching  is  like  a  line  ;  they  go  straight 
forward,  and  only  hit  one ;  but  mine  goes  out 
and  in — to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  and  running 
this  way  and  that  way  among  a  crowd" — as 
though  he  had  a  cracker  running  riot  in  his  im- 
agination, thrown  among  the  spectators  from 
the  hand  of  a  person  displaying  fire-works — 
'•it  is  sure  to  strike  some."  He  employed  the 
same  metaphorical  language,  on  another  occa- 
sion, to  the  Rev.  James  Wood,  only  varying  it 
in  his  application.  "  I  cannot,"  said  he,  "  go 
straight  forward  in  preaching ;  but  when  I  miss 
my  mark  in  going,  I  often  fell  them  in  coming 
back  again."  Another  friend,  urging  upon  him 
the  propriety  of  employing  something  like  system 
in  his  addresses,  told  him  to  divide  and  sub- 
divide them  like  his  brethren.  He  was  not 
aware  apparently  of  Samuel's  want  of  the  power 
of  classification,  or  of  his  peculiar  views  of  pre- 
paratory composition.  Listening  to  his  adviser, 
with  his  face  toward  the  ground,  as  was  some- 
times his  habit,  he  turned  his  view  upward,  on 
the  closing  sentence,  and  with  an  expressive 
look,  as  well  as  peculiar  tone,  both  indicative  of 
a  belief  that  the  speaker  was  not  very  well 
versed  in  the  grand  secret  of  useful  preaching, 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  231 

"  Why,  bless  you,  barn,"  said  he,  "  I  give  it 
them  hot  oft' the  bakestone  !"  indirectly  intimat- 
ing, that  the  spiritual  ''bread"  provided  by  many 
of  the  systematizers  was  very  often  cold,  in 
consequence  of  the  time  employed  in  prepara- 
tion, before  it  reached  the  people.  He  had  long 
wished  the  llev.  K.  Newton  to  preach  at  Mickle- 
field  ;  and,  as  an  inducement,  proposed  to  give 
two  of  his  own  sermons  for  one  by  Mr.  Newton, 
which  he  thought — with  equal  sincerity  and 
simplicity — would  be  an  equivalent,  both  in  ac- 
tual labour  and  probable  usefulness.  This,  in 
Samuel,  was  not  the  language  of  pride  and  self- 
sufticiency  :  he  "  spoke  as  a  child." 

It  appears,  that  during  this  tour  to  "  the  west," 
the  "  laborious  work,"  as  he  expressed  himself, 
through  which  he  had  to  pass,  was  such  as  to 
reduce  his  physical  strength.  But  in  the  midst 
of  it  he  could  sing,  "Labour  is  rest,  and  pain  is 
sweet ;"  and  then  would  exultingly  exclaim 
"  God  has  been  with  mc  ;  if  I  have  lost  weight 
in  body,  I  have  gained  it  in  soul.  He  has 
given  me  strength  according  to  my  day."  Hor- 
ton,  Wakefield,  and  other  places,  were  visited 
on  his  return.  At  one  of  them  he  took  for  his 
text  1  John  i,  7,  and  was  rather  pleased  than 
otherwise  to  find  that  a  gentleman  had  taken 
his  sermon  in  short-hand  ;  and  still  more  so,  to 
know  that  he  had  been  benefited  by  it,  though 
not  a  little  surprised  to  be  presented  by  him 
with  half  a  sovereign  at  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vice. While  in  the  Pately-Bridge  circuit, 
which  was  another  of  the  scenes  of  his  labour, 


232  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

in  the  course  of  this  excursion,  he  wrote  from 
Mr.  Bromley's,  Brown  Bank,  and  in  his  letter 
observes,  "  1  am  where  my  soul  and  body  rest 
in  peace — peace  that  the  world  can  neitber  give 
nor  take  away — a  peace  that  is  constant." 
The  body  and  soul  resting  in  peace,  has  all  the 
ouiet  about  it  of  a  saint  silently  waiting  in  the 
grave  for  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  ;  and 
it  was  this  feeling  that  rendered  the  "  laborious 
work"  just  referred  to  easy,  like  St.  Paul's 
"light  affliction." 

Home  had  still  its  attractions,  but  his  zeal 
permitted  it  to  become  only  a  partial  resting- 
place.  Passing  over  some  other  fields  of  labour, 
we  find  him  toward  the  close  of  July,  as  ap- 
pears from  his  letters,  exercising  his  talents  at 
Stamford-Bridge,  Copmanthorpe,  Acomb,  and 
other  places  in  the  York  circuit,  and  pressed 
to  pay  another  visit  to  Bolton.  One  part  of  his 
business  was  to  beg  for  a  chapel ;  and  "  for 
every  sovereign"  received,  he  observed,  "  God 
gave  his  brethren  and  himself  a  soul."  But 
though  "  plenty  of  money"  was  obtained,  "  no 
small  stir"  was  made  by  the  enemies  of  religion 
when  they  witnessed  the  grace  of  God  in  the 
new  converts.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Stam- 
ford-Bridge, especially,  persecution  showed  its 
odious  front,  in  the  steward  of  a  gentleman  of 
landed  property,  who  threatened  to  turn  the 
farmers  off  their  farms,  if  they  persisted  in 
attending  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  preach- 
ers. Samuel  "  thought  this  a  very  hard  case," 
and  proceeded  at  once  to  the  fountain  bead  for 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  233 

redress — to  the  landed  proprietor  himself.  He 
told  the  gentleman  that  he  came  to  "  beg  a 
favour."  On  being  asked  the  purport  of  his 
request,  he  replied*  "  To  ask  you  to  let  your 
tenants  have  the  same  liberty  the  king  grants 
his  subjects."  Though  partly  alive  to  the  sub- 
ject, the  reply  demanded  farther  explanation  ; 
and  Samuel  added,  "  To  let  your  tenants  go  to 
the  Methodist  chapel."  The  gentleman,  with 
considerable  warmth,  interposed  his  interdict, 
stating,  that  they  should  not.  Samuel  conti- 
nued to  urge  his  plea,  by  affirming  that  the 
tenants  objected  to  were  the  best  "  church- 
goers" in  the  neighbourhood — that  there  was 
service  in  the  Established  Church  only  in  the 
forenoon — and  that  they  wished  to  hear  the 
Methodists  in  the  afternoon.  The  threatening 
of  the  steward,  which  now  appeared  to  be  only 
the  echo  of  the  master's  voice,  was  repeated 
and  confirmed  ;  and  one  of  the  reasons  assigned 
was,  that  the  "  Methodists"  were  "  a  disaffect- 
ed people."  This  was  a  tender  point.  "  Sir," 
said  Samuel,  "you  do  not  know  them  so  well 
as  I  do.  I  have  known  them  fifty  years.  They 
are  the  most  loyal  body  of  people  living,  and 
they  are  doing  more  good  than  any  other  peo- 
ple upon  earth  :  and,  sir,  I  think  it  is  very  hard 
that  you  should  attempt  to  prevent  your  tenants 
from  praying  to  God,  who  is  sending  his  judg- 
ments abroad  in  our  island,  when  prayer  is  the 
only  weapon  that  can  turn  them  aside."  Sam- 
uel, alas  !  was  dismissed  without  obtaining  the 
object  of  his  petition :  but  he    still  exulted  in 


234  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  firmness  and  perseverance  manifested  by 
the  persons  against  whom  the  threatening  was 
directed,  and  over  whom  it  hung  like  an  angry 
cloud ;  rejoicing  especially  in  one  whom  he 
claimed  as  a  "  namesake." 

He  paid  another  visit  to  York,  and  Stamford- 
Bridge,  in  March,  1827  ;  and  in  a  letter,  like  a 
song  of  triumph,  observed  that  he  was  in  his 
"element" — had  "lived  to  see  good  days" — 
never  "  saw  such  a  revival  before" — that  if  the 
Lord  would  only  grant  him  the  desire  of  his 
heart,  a  "general  revival,"  he  would  then  "say, 
with  old  Simeon,  Now,  Lord,  let  thy  servant 
depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy 
salvation" — that  he  had  been  "assisting  to  hold 
a  lovefeast,"  and  though  he  had  been  "  a  Me- 
thodist for  so  many  years,"  he  never  expe- 
rienced such  a  lovefeast  in  all  his  life — that  the 
sum  of  "eleven  pounds  had  been  collected  in 
it  for  the  poor" — that  the  "  family  increased" 
so  rapidly,  another  chapel  would  be  necessary 
— that  the  "  friends  in  York  liked"  his  "  doc- 
trine of  sanctification" — that  several  had  ob- 
tained "liberty"  while  he  was  preaching  in  St. 
George's  chapel — and  that  "  some  had  been 
sanctified  ;"  then  turning  upon  Martha,  whom 
he  was  addressing,  he  proceeded,  "  I  hope  you 
are  getting  hold  of  the  hem  of  our  Lord's  gar- 
ment. You  shall  be  made  whole.  I  know  you 
once  enjoyed  sanctification.*     The  fountain  is 

*  Martha  deprived  herself  of  an  occasional  blessing, 
through  the  natural  warmth  of  her  temper;  and  the  great  dif- 
ference in  Samuel,  between  his  converted  and  unconverted 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  235 

still  open.  The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say, 
Come." 

In  the  course  of  this  visit,  a  young  man 
heard  him  preach,  who  stood  rebuked  before 
God  under  the  word.  Nature  and  grace  had  a 
powerful  struggle  in  the  onset  :  he  was  so  ex- 
asperated at  Samuel,  as  to  avow,  if  he  ever 
went  again  to  hear  him,  he  would  "take  a  rope 
and  hang  him  with  it."  Still  the  subject  of 
conflicting  feelings,  he  went  once  more  ;  but 
the  lion  no  longer  shook  his  mane  for  the  con- 
test: a  little  child  might  have  led  him.  The 
same  voice  which  roused  his  fury,  allayed 
it :  he  became  calm — heard  with  attention — 
mixed  faith  with  hearing — believed — and  was 
saved. 

state,  is  perceptible  in  the  effect  he  permitted  it  to  have  upon 
his  mind.  In  the  first  instance,  he  either  rebelled  or  fled 
from  it ;  in  the  second,  he  was  all  meekness,  exhortation, 
and  anxiety,  to  see  her  enjoying  the  perfection  of  the  dispen- 
sation under  which  she  lived.  On  one  occasion,  prior  to  his 
conversion,  he  left  the  house  with  an  intention  never  to  re- 
turn. A  friend  asking  him  why  he  relented,  Samuel  repli 
ed,  "  Why,  barn,  as  I  was  crossing  the  field,  I  saw  the  bonny 
white  lambs  playing  ;  they  looked  so  innocent  and  happy, 
that  I  thought  1  could  not  leave  them,  and  to  went  back 
again."  He  was  a  mere  child  of  nature,  and  nature  here, 
with  its  innocent  gambols,  laid  a  firmer  hold  of  his  heart, 
than  the  recollection  of  his  vows  before  the  marriage  altar. 
But  now,  as  Martha  had  often  to  bear  with  him,  so.  uncom- 
plaining, he  bears  with  her  ;  and  mutual  good  is  the  object  of 
both.  Samuel's  is  not  the  first  heart  that  has  been  smitten 
with  tenderness  at  the  sight  of  a  lamb;  and  than  the  first 
glance  of  the  first  lamb  of  the  season,  there  is  scarcely  any 
thing  more  calculated  to  awaken  the  sensibi'itie:-  of  our  na- 
ture. The  associations  arc  too  obvious  to  Be  insisted  upon  ; 
and  a  heart  so  susceptible  of  the  tender  and  the  innocent,  is 
capable  of  being  led  in  any  direction,  and  wound  up  to  any 
pitch. 


236  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 


CHAPTER  X. 


His  first  visit  to  London — Dialogue  at  an  inn  on  the  road 
— Wesleyan  Missionary  Meeting — Preaches  at  Southward 
—Exalts  divine  truth  at  the  expense  of  human  knowledge — 
Persons  henefited  by  his  addresses — His  notions  of  nervous 
complaints — His  second  visit  to  the  metropolis — Mrs.  Wrath- 
all  ;  her  character,  experience,  and  affliction — Samuel's  gen- 
eral views  and  feelings,  as  connected  with  his  second  visit 
— Pleads  strenuously  for  the  doctrine  of  sanctification — Is 
both  opposed  and  supported  in  it  by  persons  of  the  Baptist 
persuasion — Receives  a  gentle  admonition  from  Martha — A 
specimen  of  one  of  his  public  addresses,  when  in  one  of  his 
most  felicitous  moods. 


His  visit  to  the  metropolis,  which  has  only- 
been  incidentally  noticed,  deserves  to  be  intro- 
duced distinctly  and  at  large.  He  was  there 
twice  ;  and  though  a  period  of  eight  years 
occupied  the  space  between,  they  are  here 
classed  together,  not  only  because  of  the  affin- 
ity of  subject  and  place,  as  has  been  observed 
in  other  cases ;  but  because  of  the  nonimport- 
ance  of  the  one  compared  with  the  other,  ren- 
dering a  distinct  notice  less  necessary. 

It  appears  in  a  communication  from  Mr. 
Wrathall  to  the  writer,  that  Samuel's  "  first  visit 
to  London  was  in  May,  1819,"  on  which  occa- 
sion "  he  remained  somewhat  more  than  a 
month.''  Though  he  had  a  daughter  in  London, 
then  housekeeper  to  Mr.  W.,  and  other  relations 
in  the  neighbourhood,  a  more  powerful  spring 
was  found  in  the  general  annual  Wesleyan 
Missionary  Meeting,  to  give  an  impetus  to  his 
movements  toward  the  metropolis,  than  eithci 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  237 

in  friendship  or  relationship.  On  this  trip,  he 
remarks,  "  I  had  a  very  pleasant  journey,  as  I 
had  the  Lord  with  me  ;  and  the  weather  being 
tine,  made  my  way  very  comfortable.  I  sung 
hymns  in  the  night  to  keep  me  awake."  On 
the  coach  arriving  at  Retford,  time  was  allowed 
for  the  passengers  to  take  refreshment,  when 
Samuel  and  the  other  persons  on  the  outside 
alighted,  together  with  four  gentlemen  from 
within.  Samuel,  having  as  usual  beat  "  quick 
time,''  suddenly  disappeared.  One  of  the 
inside  passengers  inquired  pleasantly  of  the 
coachman  where  the  man  was  who  "  had  been 
so  merry  on  the  top,"  and  was  answered,  that 
he  had  "gone  into  the  kitchen."  A  request 
was  immediately  sent,  inviting  him  into  the 
dining-room,  with  which  he  complied.  The 
room,  the  table,  and  the  provision,  at  first 
surprised  him.  To  the  occasional  and  alter- 
nate interrogatories  of  each,  he  replied ;  the 
substance  of  part  of  which  is  as  follows,  and 
for  the  brevity  of  which  every  coach-traveller 
will  be  able  to  furnish  an  answer,  having  been 
repeatedly  saluted  with  the  horn,  when  his  ap- 
petite has  urged  him  to  stay. 

Gentleman.  "  We  have  sent  for  you,  to  ask 
you  to  sit  down  at  table  with  us." 

Samuel.  "  I  am  obliged  :  but  I  have  ordered 
the  waiter  to  draw  me  a  pint  of  ale,  and  I  have 
plenty  of  beef  and  bread  with  me." 

Gent.  "  You  have  been  such  good  company, 
we  have  agreed  to  treat  you  with  your  supper." 

On  this  he  sat  down,  and  partook  of  their 


238  THK    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

hospitable  cheer  ;  the  four  gentlemen  and  him 
self  constituting  the  party. 

Gent.  "  How  far  may  you  be  going  this 
road?" 

Sam.  "To  London." 

Gent.  "  How  far  have  you  travelled  ?" 

Sam.  "From  Micklefield,  near  Ferry  Bridge." 

Gent.  "What  business  calls  you  up  to 
town  ?" 

Sam.  "  I  am  going  to  a  noble  missionary 
meeting." 

Gent.  "  Don't  you  think  you  have  a  poor 
errand?" 

Here  an  armistice  was  instantly  proclaimed 
between  Samuel  and  his  supper,  and  looking 
expressively  at  the  speaker,  he  said, 

"Sir,  I  would  not  turn  back,  if  you  were  to 
give  me  five  pounds  for  doing  it." 

Gent.  "Perhaps  not.  Who  pays  your  ex- 
penses ?" 

Sam.  "  I  pay  my  own,  sir.  I  have  plenty  of 
money ;  and  if  you  dispute  it,  I  will  let  you 
see  it." 

Such  a  confession,  in  some  societies — as  he 
had  upward  of  .£170  upon  him — would  have 
been  prized,  and  his  ignorance  of  the  world 
might  have  been  improved  upon  ;  but  he  was 
in  honourable  company.  On  his  offer  being 
declined,  another  of  the  gentlemen  struck  in — 

"  There  is  a  great  deal  of  money  spent  upon 
the  heathen.  If  we  are  to  suppose  that  the 
Lord  will  never  send  them  to  a  place  of  pun- 
ishment for  not  believing  in  a  Saviour  of  whom 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  239 

they  have  never  heard,  would  it  not  he  much 
better  to  let  them  alone  ?" 

Sam.  "  The  Lord  has  declared,  that  he  will 
give  his  Son  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance, 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his 
possession — that  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world — and  that 
then  will  come  the  end,  when  all  shall  know 
him  from  the  least  to  the  greatest." 

He  could  not  enter  into  the  subtleties  in 
which  the  question  was  involved,  and  with 
which  it  has  often  been  perplexed  by  the  self- 
ish, and  unbelieving,  and  the  designing  ;  but 
he  cast  anchor  in  God's  designs,  commands, 
and  promises,  which  were  the  general  notions 
he  wished  to  express — his  design  to  save,  his 
promise  to  give,  and  his  command  to  preach  to 
the  heathen  ;  and  there  he  remained  riding  in 
safety  :  what  God  commanded  he  considered 
himself  bound  to  perform,  and  what  he  had 
promised,  he  knew  he  was  faithful  to  fulfil. 

Gent.  "  Do  you  intend  to  deliver  a  speech 
on  the  occasion  ?" 

Sam.  "  O  no  :  I  expect  there  will  be  a  num- 
ber of  gentlemen  at  the  meeting,  from  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  I  hope  to  have  the  pleasure 
of  hearing  them  make  their  noble  speeches." 

Gent.  "  If  you  will  promise  to  make  a  speech, 
we  will  come  and  hear  you." 

The  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  horses  being  ready  to  start. 
Samuel  resumed  his  seat  and  his  song,  and  ar- 
rived in  safety  the  next  day  in  London.     At 


240  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  public  meeting  he  found  his  way  to  the 
platform  ;  and  to  his  great  surprise,  one  of  the 
gentlemen  who  had  regaled  him  with  his  sup- 
per at  Retford  took  a  seat  next  him,  and  pre- 
sented him  with  an  orange ;  but  he  was  still 
more  astonished,  when  the  gentleman's  name 
was  announced  as  R.  F.,  Esq.,  of  Bradford, 
Yorkshire,  who  was  called  upon  to  second  a 
resolution. 

The  first  chapel  he  preached  in  was  that  of 
Southwark,  and  the  second,  Hinde-street.  On 
the  first  occasion  he  took  one  of  his  favourite 
texts,  James  i.  27.  A  gentleman  accosted  him 
after  the  service,  in  a  frank  way — *'  My  good 
old  Yorkshireman,  though  I  could  not  under- 
stand the  whole  of  your  language,  part  of  which 
might  have  been  Danish  for  any  thing  I  know 
to  the  contrary,  yet  I  have  had  my  soul 
blessed  under  your  sermon."  Samuel  replied, 
,( It  makes  no  matter,  sir,  what,  the  language  is, 
if  the  soul  only  gets  blessed."*      The  gentle- 

*  This  circumstance  was  afterward  related  and  improved 
by  Samuel  in  a  missionary  meeting,  in  a  way  equally  expres- 
sive of  his  ignorance  and  his  piety.  Some  observations  had 
been  made  on  the  labour  requisite  to  acquire  the  languages, 
before  a  missionary  could  be  able  to  address  himself  to  the 
heathen,  so  as  to  be  understood.  Samuel,  who  was  always 
impressed  with  the  notion  that  he  was  called  to  be  a  mission- 
ary, and  took,  his  visionary  voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  noticed 
in  a  preceding  page,  as  an  intimation  of  it,  not  only  saw  his 
own  way  more  clearly  to  go  abroad,  but  believed  he  per- 
ceived a  much  shorter  cut  across  the  field  of  labour  and  travel 
for  others.  The  Southwark  gentleman  was  produced  by  him 
as  an  example  of  the  power  of  truth  to  bless,  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  language  in  which  it  was  conveyed.  This 
case  seemed  to  impart  new  light — removed  every  impediment 
— set  a  missionary  immediately  upon  his  work ;    and  in  iu 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  241 

man  invited  him  to  spend  a  day  at  his  house, 
stating,  on  Samuel  observing  that,  as  a  stranger, 
he  would  not  be  able  to  find  his  way,  that  he 
would  send  his  servant  to  conduct  him  tbither. 
While  he  was  yet  in  the  vestry,  taking  a  biscuit 
and  a  glass  of  wine — a  treat  with  which  he 
had  been  but  rarely  indulged  in  small  country 
places — a  lady  entered,  inquiring,  under  strong 
feeling,  whether  she  could  see  the  minister. 
Samuel  supposing  the  inquiry  to  be  for  one  of 
the  preachers  on  the  circuit,  who  was  present, 
kept  his  seat.  The  preacher  went  up  to  the 
lady,  and  requested  to  know  whether  it  was  the 
person  that  had  been  preaching  she  wished  to 
see.  Casting  a  glance  around  the  place,  and 
seeing  Samuel,  she  exclaimed,  "  O  yes  :  that  is 
the  person."  Samuel  sprang  from  his  seat, 
with  his  wine  and  biscuit  in  his  hand,  saying, 
"  What  do  you  please  to  want  with  me,  ma- 
dam ?"  "  O,  I  wish  to  tell  you,  sir,"  was  the 
reply,  "  what  I  felt  while  you  were  preaching. 

novelty,  Samuel  appeared  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  apostle's 
observations  on  an  "  unknown  tongue."  His  error  lay,  not 
in  a  distinction — had  he  been  able  to  comprehend  it — be- 
tvreen  truth  in  the  spirit  and  truth  in  the  letter — between  hu- 
man language  as  addressed  to  the  ear,  and  the  power  of  God 
as  felt  in  the  heart — between  sound  and  sense — between 
\s  bat  a  man  may  hear  and  what  he  may  feel ; — but  in  taking 
it  for  granted,  thai  it  was  that  portion  of  the  address  which 
the  gentleman  did  not  understand,  rather  than  that  which  he 
did,  which  was  so  beneficial  to  him — in  taking  it  for  granted 
that  a  special  case  might  be  applied  as  a  general  rule — and 
in  siipp.isiiu  thai  the  use  of  the  understanding  would  be  sus- 
pended rather  than  the  word  should  return  void,  and  the 
work  of  grace  should  not  go  on.  He  now,  in  his  simplicity, 
added  toliis  call,  his  qualification — the  latter  founded  on  an 
erroneous  view  of  the  overwhelming  power  of  God. 
16 


242  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

A  trembling  came  all  over  me,  and  I  could  not 
hold  a  limb  still."  Samuel,  who  had  but  one 
cause  for  all  these  things,  and  happened  to  be 
correct  in  this  instance,  as  well  as  in  many 
others,  said,  "It  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  we  will  return  the  Lord  thanks  for  it." 
The  proposition  was  accepted ;  and  he  ob- 
served, "Though  she  was  dressed  in  fine  silks, 
which  crackled  again,  she  knelt  down  on  the 
vestry  floor,  and,  while  pleading,  the  Lord 
blessed  her  soul." 

Another  case  came  under  his  observation, 
which  was  more  obstinate  than  that  of  the  lady, 
and  assumed  to  him  an  air  of  novelty.  He  was 
sent  to  pray  with  a  gentleman,  whose  affliction 
was  stated  to  him  to  be  a  "  nervous  complaint." 
His  own  nerves  being  of  a  wiry  make — living 
in  a  neighbourhood  of  health — and  moving 
generally  among  that  class  of  people  whose 
nervous  system  is  kept  continually  braced  by 
labour  and  by  the  breeze,  he  had  to  take  both 
his  head  and  his  heart  to  school  on  the  subject. 
The  malady  assumed  an  awful  appearance  to 
him  ;  for  when  he  entered  the  room,  he  re- 
marked, that  the  person  "  was  sunk  so  low, 
that  he  lay  on  the  sofa  like  a  dead  man."  As 
he  had  but  one  cause  for  the  stirrings  of  the 
human  spirit,  so  he  had  but  one  cure  for  most 
of  our  maladies.  Faith  in  Christ  was  his  heal- 
all,  and  was  his  grand  specific  here.  He  spent 
nearly  a  whole  day  with  the  gentleman,  either 
praying  with  him,  or  sitting  by  his  side,  singing 
hymns,  relating  his  experience,  exhorting  him 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  243 

to  the  exercise  of  faith.  In  his  addresses  he 
told  him,  that  it  was  only  "  holy  medicine"  that 
"  could  cure"  him,  and  that  "  all  the  doctors  in 
London  could  not  cure  a  nervous  complaint,  for 
it  was  a  soul-complaint."  On  parting,  the  gen- 
tleman entreated  him  to  repeat  his  visit,  and 
added,  "  I  would  freely  give  all  I  possess  to  be 
as  happy  as  you  are."  This  case  made  a  deep 
impression  on  Samuel's  mind,  and  in  his  reflec- 
tions afterward,  he  remarked,  "  I  pity  any  one 
who  is  troubled  with  this  dreadful  complaint ; 
but  I  believe  many  fall  into  it  for  want  of  faith. 
They  reason  with  themselves,  and  with  the 
enemy,  instead  of  reasoning  with  God,  who 
says,  'Come,  and  let  its  reason  together.'" 
Little  as  honest  Samuel  knew  of  the  subject, 
he  might  have  been  farther  wrong,  than  in  sup- 
posing that  mental  agony  will  induce  physical 
debility.  While  we  cease  to  wonder  that  the 
gentleman  should  look  upon  his  state  as  envia- 
ble, we  are  convinced  that  no  one,  except  a 
child  in  spirit,  could  have  sat  and  sung  hymns 
by  the  side  of  so  much  misery — of  one  whose 
spirit  was  tuned  only  for  a   "  dark-woven  lay." 

The  principal  part  of  his  time  was  occupied 
in  visiting  the  sick,  and  in  attending  the  ordi- 
nances of  God;  and  thus  engaged,  he  might 
well  say,  "  I  was  very  happy  all  the  time  I  was 
in  London."  Business  requiring  his  presence 
at  home,  he  remained  only  a  month  in  the  me- 
tropolis. 

His  second  visit  was  in  1827,  but  the  day 
and  the  month  when  he  set  off  are  uncertain  ; 


244  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

a  correspondent  connected  with  the  family 
stating  it  to  have  been  in  May,  while  a  letter 
written  by  himself  bears  testimony  of  his 
having  been  in  Yorkshire  in  the  month  of  July. 
Tlie  memory  might  have  possibly  been  depend- 
ed upon  in  the  first  instance  ;  and  the  first  visit 
having  been  in  May,  might  have  been  the  oc- 
casion of  the  error.  His  daughter  Rosamond 
had  entered  the  marriage  state  with  Mr.  Wrath- 
all,  in  the  interval  of  his  visits.  This  took 
place  in  1824;  and  it  was  on  account  of  her 
long  and  severe  indisposition  that  he  took  the 
present  journey.  The  following  brief  narrative 
of  this  excellent  woman,  whom  it  may  be  pro- 
per here  to  introduce,  was  published  in  the 
obituary  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine, 
by  the  Rev.  Richard  Reece.* 

"  Mrs.  Rosamond  Wrathall  was  daughter  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Hick,  of  Micklefield,  Yorkshire  ; 
a  man  generally  known,  and  highly  esteemed 
for  his  usefulness  among  the  Methodists  for 
nearly  half  a  century  ;  and  who,  with  his  pious 
wife,  considered  it  their  duty  to  impress  upon 
the  minds  of  their  children  the  great  truths  of 
the  gospel.  Early  indications  were  given  that 
the  heart  of  Mrs.  Wrathall  was  under  the  influ- 


*  1828,  p.  499.  A  curious  "Prospectus  for  publishing  the 
Life  of  the  lute  Samuel  Hick,  of  Micklefield,"  issued  from 
the  press  in  the  summer  of  18U0,  which  promised  to  "con- 
tain the  experience  and  happy  death  of  .Mrs.  Rathall  of 
London,  daughter  ol  the  deceased,  who  died  while  he  was 
in  London."  It  is  presumed  that  the  late  Mrs.  Wkathall 
u:is  intended  by  the  author,  and  that,  through  his  ignorance 
of  the  subject,  he  adopted  another  name. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  245 

ence  of  divine  grace.  At  the  age  of  seven 
years  her  mind  was  enlightened  to  see  the  evil 
nature  and  dreadful  consequences  of  sin.  Al- 
though she  was  humble  and  teachable,  and  very 
dutiful  and  affectionate  to  her  parents,  yet  she 
felt  the  need  of  pardon,  and  of  the  purification 
of  her  nature.  The  period  at  which  she  re- 
ceived the  blessing  of  justification  through  faith 
in  the  merits  of  Christ  is  unknown  ;  but  it  must 
have  been  at  an  early  age.  During  the  whole 
of  her  Christian  course  she  was  an  ornament 
to  her  profession,  and  was  greatly  attached  to 
the  Methodist  connection.  She  refrained  from 
evil  speaking,  and  used  her  influence  to  restrain 
the  practice  of  it  in  others.  She  put  on  the  or- 
nament of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in 
the  sight  of  God  of  great,  price.  Her  disposi- 
tion was  naturally  generous  ;  and  after  her  con- 
version she  was  constantly  devising  liberal 
things.  She  spared  no  labour  nor  expense  to 
alleviate  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  and  lead 
them  to  Christ.  She  was  a  pattern  of  integrity 
and  piety.  At  the  commencement  of  her  long 
affliction,  she  was  deeply  convinced  of  the  need 
of  a  farther  work  of  grace  upon  her  heart ;  and 
desired  that  her  excellent  father  might  be  sent 
for,  that  she  might  enjoy  the  benefit  of  his 
counsel  and  faithful  prayers." 

Samuel,  after  a  safe  journey,  alighted  at  the 
Saracen's  Head,  and  proceeded  to  the  house  of 
his  son-in-law.  He  found  Mrs.  W.  very  much 
indisposed.  The  blessing  she  sought  had  been 
the  subject  of  his  preaching  and  conversation 


246  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

for  many  years,  as  well  as  the  experience  of 
his  soul  ;  and  his  child's  anxiety  for  it  led  him 
to  dwell  upon  it  more  than  usual,  in  public  and 
in  private,  as  also  in  his  correspondence  during 
his  stay  in  London.  "  Her  mind,"  continues 
Mr.  Reece,  "  became  more  and  more  calm  and 
stayed  upon  God  ;  she  received  the  blessing  of 
entire  sanctilication,  which  she  so  much  de- 
sired, and  continued  in  the  exercise  of  prayer 
and  thanksgiving  to  the  end  of  her  life." 

During  Samuel's  second  stay  in  this  human 
ant-hill,  whose  swarms  are  always  in  motion, 
and  whose  streets  gave  him  the  notion,  in  his 
own  language,  of  a  constant  "fair"  he  labour- 
ed under  the  impression  that  a  great  work,  was 
to  be  done — done  instantly — and  that  he  was 
to  sustain  a  share  in  the  toil  and  in  the  glory, 
lie  sighed  over  the  irreligious  part  of  the  com- 
munity, composed,  as  he  stated,  of  "Jews, 
Turks,  Infidels,  and  Barbarians,"  all  of  whom 
might  "  believe"  in  the  existence  of  a  "  God," 
but  "  lived  as  though  there  were  none  ;"  con- 
cluding, that  if  it  were  not  for  the  "  few  right- 
eous" to  be  found  in  the  city,  it  would  at  once 
be  "destroyed  like  Sodom."  With  these  views, 
and  with  a  heart  thus  affected,  he  embraced 
every  opportunity  of  rendering  himself  useful, 
anil  could  speak  of  having  "  plenty  of  work" — 
of  being  often  "  tired  in  it,  but  not  of  it" — of 
"  preaching  in  chapels  and  in  the  open  air" — of 
making  "collections  for  chapels  and  for  schools" 
— of  "  visiting  the  sick" — attending  "lovefeasts" 
— assisting  in  "  prayer  meetings"^-dining  and 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  247 

praying  on  board  some  of  the  vessels  on  the 
Thames — and,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  of  hav- 
ing "  plenty  of  friends,"  and  of  being  "  hearty 
and  happy."  One  of  the  vessels  having  to  per- 
form only  a  short  voyage,  and  having  reached 
her  destination  before  he  left  town,  returning 
with  fruit  and  spice,  he  took  care  devoutly  to 
connect  with  his  notice  of  her  safety,  the  prayer 
meeting  which  he  himself  and  some  friends 
held  "  in  the  cabin,"  before  her  departure  ;  and 
also  to  exhort  Martha,  who  was  not  likely  to  be 
benefited  by  any  part  of  the  cargo,  to  make  pro- 
gress in  piety,  and  both  he  and  she  would  here- 
after be  indulged  with  a  taste  of  the  "  "rapes"  of 
the  kingdom,  and  with  "  wine  on  the  lees,  well 
refined."  It  was  here  that  he  not  only  attempt- 
ed to  moralize,  but  to  philosophize  ;  stating  it 
to  be  his  opinion,  that  if  the  Lord  had  not 
"  sent  the  tide  through  the  city,  to  sweeten  the 
air,  a  plague"  would  have  been  the  result ;  as 
though  the  tide  had  followed  rather  than  pre- 
ceded the  foundation  of  its  walls.  But  Sam- 
uel was  a  Christian,  not  a  philosopher;  his 
head  was  less  the  receptacle  of  knowledge  than 
his  heart  was  of  grace.  While  he  laboured  as 
though  the  immortal  interests  of  the  whole  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  rested  upon  him,  he 
cast  a  glance  of  solicitude  toward  home,  telling 
Martha,  that  it  was  not  "  out  of  sight,  out  of 
mind :"  and  requesting  to  be  informed  how  she 
was  "  in  body  and  soul ;"  repeatedly  forwarding 
her  not  only  "  parcels,"  but  what  he  knew  sho 
"  liked"-  -a  "  cheap  letter."     His  letters  indi- 


248  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

catc  also  deep  anxiety  for  the  prosperity  of  tho 
work  of  God  at  Mickle  field  ;  and,  among  others, 
an  ardent  desire  for  the  salvation  of  a  "  Mr. 
Coulson."  Nor  did  he  forget  his  "old  servant 
Jackey,"  whom  he  wished  to  be  attended  to, 
and  preserved  in  his  blindness  from  falling  into 
the  "bogs."*  His  desire  to  be  useful  led  him 
to  request  Martha  to  enlarge  his  "  furlough  ;" 
intimating  at  the  same  time  his  readiness  to  re- 
turn on  the  first  notice  of  his  being  "  wanted  at 
home." 

The  only  personal  indisposition  of  which  he 
had  to  complain  was  a  slight  attack  of  cholera 
morbus,  which  he  believed  he  had  caught  from 
one  of  the  young  men  resident  in  the  house, 
and  which  he  therefore  characterized  as  "s/pit- 
//e."t     One  of  the  most  relieving  considerations 

*  His  partiality  to  this  animal  arose  chiefly  from  the  cir- 
cumstance of  its  having  carried  the  Rev.  David  Stoner 
around  the  York  circuit,  to  whom  he  was  warmly  attached, 
both  as  an  eminent  servant  of  God,  and  as  having  been  born 
near  his  own  home.  And  yet,  for  this  very  attachment, 
Samuel  might  have  stood  rebuked  by  his  own  words.  Being 
at  Aberford  fair  once,  and  walking  with  his  friend  Mr.  Daw- 
son among  the  crowd,  he  was  met  by  an  acquaintance. 
"You  look  cast  down,"  said  Samuel;  "what  is  the  matter 
with  you?"  "I  have  lost  a  fine  horse,"  was  the  reply, 
naming  its  value.  "Why,  bless  you,  man,  you  made  a  god 
of  it,  and  worshipped  it:  1  worshipped  a  fine  ewe  once,  and 
God  took  her  away  from  me."  Such  was  Samuel's  consola- 
tion under  loss,  and  such  his  occasional  views  of  improper 
attachments. 

t  A  provincialism,  denoting  any  thing  contagious.  lie 
was  not  a  little  delighted  with  what  he  considered  a  triumph 
over  the  ignorance  of  some  of  the  metropolitans,  who  had 
consulted  the  English  Dictionary  for  the  term,  he  having 
told  them  in  the  course  of  his  sermon,  that  "  sin  was  smit- 
tie" — exhorting  them  to  keep  at  the  utmost  distance  from  it. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  249 

to  his  mincl  under  it  was — and  this  shows  his 
anxiety  to  be  useful — that  it  had. not  been  per- 
mitted to  "take"  him  from  his  "work."  The 
sudden  death  of  a  female — the  affliction  of  his 
daughter — and  the  daily  funeral  processions 
along  the  streets  of  the  city,  produced  a  quick- 
ening influence  upon  his  soul,  and  furnished 
him  with  seasonable  preaching  and  conversa- 
tional topics,  grounding  on  the  whole  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  constant  preparation  for  another 
state  of  being. 

His  peculiarities  in  manner  and  dialect  at- 
tracted attention ;  and  among  others  with  whom 
he  conversed,  and  who  were  induced  to  hear 
him  preach,  were  some  persons  of  the  Baptist 
persuasion.  While  a  few  of  these  contested 
the  doctrine  of  "  entire  sanctification"  with  him, 
others  of  them  admitted  its  necessity  and  at- 
tainment. One  of  the  latter  addressed  a  letter 
to  him  on  the  subject,  which  he  intended  to 
insert  in  his  "  Life."  Treating  on  it  in  a  letter 
to  Martha,  he  observed,  "I  have  preached  ever 
since  I  came  to  London,  a  full,  free,  and  present 
salvation  ;  and  I  will  continue  to  preacli  it  while 
I  have  life  and  strength.  Thousands  have 
heard  me.  I  have  told  them,  that  if  the  king 
were  to  make  a  decree,  that  the  man  preaching 
this  doctrine  should  have  his  head  taken  off,  I 
would  at  once  go  to  the  block,  proclaiming  as  I 
went,  with  a  loud  voice,  that  holiness  belong- 
eth  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever,  and 
would  there  die  for  it  like  a  martyr." 

Preaching  in  one  of  the  chapels,  on  "  Blessed 


250  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  *  ee  God," 
a  female  who  had  heard  him,  professed  to  have 
received  the  blessing-,  after  having  sought  it  for 
the  space  of  seventeen  years.  A  young  man 
also  bore  the  same  testimony,  in  one  of  the 
lovefeasts.  Some  of  these  cases  were  entered 
into  his  home  epistolary  correspondence,  add- 
ing to  the  narrations,  "  You  see  what  a  poor 
instrument  the  Lord  can  work  with  ! — either  by 
a  ram's  horn,  or  by  the  crowing  of  a  cock.  But 
he  shall  have  the  glory;  he  will  not  give  it  to 
another;  he  has  purchased  it  with  his  blood." 
These  intimations  led  Martha  to  look  upon  his 
state  with  a  little  jealousy;  and  on  furnishing 
him  with  a  portion  of  ballast — a  labour  of  love 
for  which  she  was  well  qualified  and  always 
ready — he  replied  to  her,  "  1  am  thankful  lor 
your  advice ;  and  I  hope  God  will  keep  me  in 
the  dust.  I  assure  you,  I  have  often  to  cry  out, 
1  Lord,  enlarge  my  heart,  and  fill  it.'  I  some- 
times think  I  shall  sink  under  the  weight  of 
love  :  and  if  I  should  be  called  away  in  such  a 
state,  O  how  sweet  it  will  be  to  fall  asleep  in 
the  arms  of  Jesus  !" 

While  urging  his  hearers  to  seek  holiness, 
he  broke  out  on  one  occasion,  somewhat  in  the 
following  strain  : — "  If  any  of  you  had  a  sum 
of  money  left  to  you  by  a  friend,  you  would  put 
in  your  claim  and  prove  the  will.  Jesus  Christ 
has  made  his  will ;  and  his  will  is  your  sancti- 
fication.  You  may  put  in  your  claim  for  the 
blessing  by  simple  faith.  The  property  belongs 
to  every  believer.     Our  Lord  made  a  just  will. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  251 

He  left  all  his  children  share  and  share  alike ; 
the  youngest  the  same  blessing  as  the  oldest. 
'  The  weakest  believer  that  hangs  upon  him' 
may  have  it.  It  is  faith  that  lays  claim  j?o  it. 
Faith  says,  '  It  is  my  property.'  Faith  has  two 
hands.  It  takes  hold  of  the  blessing  with  the 
one,  and  continues  to  hold  it  fast  by  the  other. 
Stretch  out  the  har.d  of  faith  then.  Take  the 
property  your  dear  Lord  has  purchased  for  you, 
and  for  all  believers."  This  is  truth  in  russet 
costume  :  and  yet,  homely  though  it  be,  it  is 
not  only  more  dignified  in  its  character,  but  the 
imagery  is  belter  selected,  as  well  as  more  con- 
sistently supported,  than  that  which  has  been 
sometimes  employed  by  doctors  and  digni 
taries.* 

What  gave  him  peculiar  pleasure,  in  re- 
ference to  his  favourite  theme  of  sanctification, 
was,  the  circumstance  of  receiving  an  invitation 
to  take  tea  with  two  of  the  preachers,  at  the 
house  of  a  lady  who  had  travelled  the  path  of 
holiness  upward  of  half  a  century,  and  who  had 
entertained  the  venerable  founder  of  Method- 
ism.    With  this  Christian  matron  he  compared 

*  In  a  sermon  preached  at  court,  the  celebrated  Dr. 
South  remarks,  in  speaking  of  the  delights  of  a  soul  "  cla- 
rified" by  grace,  "  No  man,  at  the  years  and  vigour  of  thirty, 
is  cMicr  fond  of  sugar-plums  or  rallies."  Another  observation 
is,  "  No  man  would  preserve  the  itch  on  himself,  only  for 
the  pleasure  of  scratching." — Sermons,  Serm.  I,  Prov.  iii,  17. 

Archbishop  Tillotson,  in  his  thanksgiving  Sermon  be- 
fore the  king  and  queen,  October  27th,  1092,  on  Jer.  ix,  23, 
21,  speaking  of  his  majesty's  preservation  in  the  field  of 
battle,  says,  "I  do  not  believe,  that  from  the  first  use  of 
great  guns  to  that  day,  any  mortal  man  ever  had  his  shoulder 
no  kindly  kissed  by  a  cannon  bullet." 


252  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

notes  ;  and  remarked,  "  She  has  enjoyed  pure 
religion  ever  since  Mr.  Wesley's  day  ;  and  the 
best  of  all  is,  she  enjoys  it  now.  It  is  natural 
for  ujb  to  talk  about  that  which  we  love.  Her 
experience  is  just  the  same  as  mine.  I  am 
glad  when  I  find  any  one  that  enjoys  the  bless- 
ing." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Continues  in  London — An  epitome  of  a  week's  labour — 
Mrs.  Wrathall's  religious  enjoyments— Samuel  meets  with 
one  converted  Jew,  and  attempts  the  Christian  improve- 
ment of  another — Preaches  out  of  doors — Visits  Michael 
Angelo  Taylor,  Esq. — Farther  account  of  Mrs.  Wrathall — 
Samuel's  usefulness — His  love  of  Yorkshire — Enjoys  a  ride 
into  the  country — Goes  into  Kent — Tent-preaohing — Is  re- 
proved for  loud  praying — His  views  of  death-Spiritualizes 
a  thunder-storm — An  African — Mrs.  Wrathall's  death — 
Samuel  visits  Windsor — Is  rendered  a  blessing  to  the  people 
— Returns  to  London — Is  called  into  Yorkshire  to  preach  a 
funeral  sermon. 

In  following  Samuel  during  his  residence  in 
the  metropolis,  it  will  furnish  some  variety,  if 
special  cognizance  be  taken  of  the  more  inci- 
dental part  of  his  history.  I  lis  life  was  one  of 
incident :  every  motion,  like  scenic  representa- 
tion, told  on  the  eye  and  the  ear  of  the  by- 
stander, unfolding  his  habitudes  and  feelings. 
Though  no  regular  journal  was  kept,  the  fol- 
lowing may  be  considered  as  nearly  in  the 
order,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  in  which 
the  occurrences  and  conversations  took  place. 

July. — Persons  visiting  the  metropolis,  like 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  253 

those  who  cross  the  line  for  the  first  time,  are 
obliged  to  conform  to  certain  ceremonies,  if  not 
of  clipping,  at  least  in  dressing.  Samuel's 
raiment  was  generally  plain,  both  in  cut  and 
quality  ;  and  when  not  employed  in  the  smithy, 
extremely  clean.  His  coat  was  rarely  per- 
mitted to  altar  its  fashion.*  The  change  in 
London,  however,  was  not  so  much  in  the 
shape,  as  in  the  quality — from  plain  to  super- 
fine. "  My  son,"  said  he  to  Martha,  "  has 
ordered  me  a  suit  of  new  clothes  ;  and  your  dear 
Ann,  whom  you  love,  has  bought  me  a  new 
hat :  I  never  had  such  a  hat  on  my  head  in  my 
life  before."  This  was  as  much  the  result  of 
kindness  as  of  necessity.  Improved  in  his 
appearance,  and  requested  to  supply  a  few 
places  for  the  Rev.  R.  Reece,  with  whose  plan 
he  was  presented  as  his  credential,  during  his 
engagements  at  the  Conference,  he  traversed 
the  city,  in  something  more  than  his  ordinary 
character,  when  at  home,  at  Micklefield ;  and 
Martha's  lectures  on  humility  were  as  necessary 
occasionally  to  suppress  the  stirrings  of  vanity 
— vanity,  however,  in  some  of  its  least  offensive 
forms,  and  without  much  of  the  consciousness 
of  its  presence — as  they  were  kindly  taken 
His  daughter,  with  a  child's  fondness,  wrote 
home  in  one  of  his  lettters,  in  the  early  part  of 

*  He  was  once,  in  the  way  of  compliment,  presented  by  a 
friend  with  a  pair  of  handsome  new  trousers.  But  they 
were  so  ill  adapted  to  his  person,  habits,  and  other  costume, 
that  when  tiius  adorned,  it  looked  like  the  last  and  present 
century  united  in  the  same  man ;  or  as  though  the  half  of 
him  belonged  to  some  one  besides  himself. 


254      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

this  month, — "  My  dear  mother,  I  will  give  you 
part  of  father's  weekly  work.  He  went  to 
Southwark  chapel  on  Monday  morning,  at  five 
o'clock  ;  from  whence  a  young  gentleman  took 
him  home  to  breakfast,  and  kept  him  the  whole 
of  the  day.  He  went  to  a  fellowship  meeting 
at  night,  and  did  not  reach  home  till  ten  o'clock. 
On  Wednesday  morning  he  preached  at  City- 
Road  at  six  o'clock,  and  did  not  arrive  here  till 
tea  time.  After  tea  he  went  to  preach  at 
Albion-street ;  and  to-day  he  has  been  at  Chelsea 
missionary  meeting.  It  is  now  ten  o'clock, 
and  he  has  just  arrived  by  coach.  I  assure  you 
my  dear  father  is  in  high  glee.  He  tells  us 
that  he  has  had  a  good  time;  and  that,  while  he 
was  speaking,  the  persons  upon  the  platform 
almost  stamped  it  down.*  They  all  shook 
hands  with  him,  told  him  they  were  obliged  to 
him  for  his  services,  and  paid  his  coach-fare. 
Wherever  he  goes,  the  people  invite  him  back 
again.  You  see  how  your  husband  is  be- 
loved." 

Though  Mrs.  W.  was  pleased  with  the 
respect  paid  to  her  father — and  it  would  have 
been  strange  if  a  little  natural  feeling  had  not 
escaped — she    remained     the     same     humble 

*  Samuel  himself  was  in  the  habit  of  stamping,  not  only 
when  others  were  speaking,  but  when  he  himself  spoke.  A 
singular  scene  took  place  sometime  prior  to  this,  au<l  nearer 
his  own  home.  Addressing  an  audience  at  a  public  meeting, 
and  being  very  animated,  lus  ponderous  movements  shook  the 
whole  platform.  .Just  at  [he  moment  of  applying  a  subject, 
and  saymtr,  "Thus  it  was  thai  the  prophets  went,"  the  pari 
on  which  Fie  stood  gave  way,  and  he  instantly  disappeared 
Fortunately  no  injury  was  sustained. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  255 

Christian  as  before  ;  nor  was  it  with  Samuel 
any  thing  else  but  the  mere  ebullition  of  the 
moment.  Personal  piety  seemed  to  include 
every  thing  besides,  both  in  himself  and  in 
others ;  and  the  progress  of  it  was  particularly 
watched  in  his  daughter.  "  1  believe,"  said  he, 
in  writing  of  her  to  his  partner,  "  the  Lord  has 
sent  me  to  London  to  learn  gratitude  from  the 
heart  of  your  own  flesh  and  blood.  I  never 
saw  such  a  happy  creature,  or  one  more  thank- 
ful, in  all  my  life.  She  has  often  been  made  a 
blessing  to  my  soul  since  I  came  hither ;  and 
not  only  to  me,  but  to  others,  Avho  come  to  see 
her  in  her  affliction.  She  enjoys  perfect  love 
— that  which  casts  out  all  fear — and  is  fit  cither 
for  living  or  dying.  I  often  think,  if  you  were 
to  see  her  in  this  happy  state,  it  would  rejoice 
your  heart.  It  is  above  all  riches  to  see  a  dear 
child  of  ours  so  happy.  Her  dear  husband  out- 
strips all  the  men  I  ever  saw  for  affection. 
She  wants  for  nothing  that  the  world  can 
bestow  :  and  your  dear  Ann  waits  upon  her  with 
tenderness.  They  are  like  a  three-fold  cord, 
twisted  together  in  love.  We  have  nothing  but 
peace,  joy,  and  love."  These  endearments, 
together  with  the  kindness  of  friends,  and  an 
extensive  field  of  usefulness,  led  him  further  to 
observe  to  Martha,  "  I  find  a  noble  body  of 
Methodists  in  this  city,  and  I  am  very  glad  I 
am  one  of  the  members  of  this  noble  family.  If 
I  had  you  with  me,  we  would  end  our  days 
here." 

As   nearly  all   classes  of  persons  attached 


256  THE    VILLAGE     BLACKSMITH. 

themselves  to  him  in  the  line  in  which  he 
moved,  so  he  found  himself  comfortable  every- 
where ;  and  hence  spoke  of  having  "  many 
homes" — not  being  "  able  to  supply  all"  his 
friends  with  his  society.  Among  others  who 
clung  to  him  was  a  Jew ;  but  whether  on  ac- 
count of  his  piety  or  singularity,  is  unknown. 
A  Jew,  to  Samuel,  was  as  great  a  phenomenon 
in  society  as  he  also  was  an  extraordinary 
specimen  of  an  adherent  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Of  this  singular  people  he  knew  very  little, 
except  what  he  had  collected  from  the  Bible. 
Impressions  of  distance,  both  as  to  time  and 
place,  with  him  were  always  connected  with 
their  history ;  and  through  his  associating  the 
holy  city  and  the  personal  manifestation  of 
Christ  among  them  in  all  his  reflections  he 
could  scarcely  have  been  more  interested,  if 
the  fable  of  the  wandering  Jew  had  been  realized 
in  his  presence,  or  if  a  Hebrew  had  stolen  out 
of  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers  at  Jerusalem, 
and,  in  his  travels,  had  reached  England,  than 
the  concern  he  felt  in  looking  upon  the  person 
in  question.  "  I  was  planned,"  said  he,  "  to 
preach  in  City-Road  vestry,  and  I  got  into 
company  with  a  converted  Jew.  He  is  a  fine 
young  man,  and  is  as  clear  in  his  experience 
as  1  am.  I  was  delighted  with  his  company. 
A  pious  lady  has  sent  him  over  to  London  to 
be  instructed  in  divine  things.  His  parents 
have  turned  him  out  of  doors  for  becoming  a 
Christian  ;  but  the  Lord  has  taken  him  into  his 
family.     He  is  going  to  college,  and  he  asked 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  25? 

me  to  go  with  him."  The  young  man  must 
either  have  been  extremely  ignorant  of  human 
character,  or  disposed  to  amuse  himself  with 
the  weaker  part  of  Samuel's  nature,  in  making 
to  him  such  a  proposal.  However,  Samuel 
told  him  that  he  had  been  at  "  Jesus  Christ's 
college,"  where  he  had  "  taken  up"  his  "  de- 
grees." He  took  breakfast  and  dinner  with  this 
young  convert,  and  found  a  difficulty  in  parting 
with  him. 

The  interest  this  case  excited,  led  him  to 
think  more  than  usual  on  the  state  of  the  Jews; 
and  turning  his  attention  to  them,  they  seemed 
to  multiply  in  his  sight  as  he  passed  along  the 
streets.  This  gave  rise  to  his  expression,  that 
the  city  appeared  to  be  filled  "  with  Jews, 
Turks,  and  Infidels."  A  genuine  son  of  Abra- 
ham kept  a  jeweller  and  silversmith's  shop 
opposite  his  daughter's  house.  He  often  looked 
at  Samuel  while  passing  his  door,  with  the 
characteristic  keenness  and  expectation  of  a 
London  Israelitish  tradesman,  hoping  to  benefit 
by  the  ignorance  of  an  inexperienced  country- 
man. But  his  soul  possessed  superior  attrac- 
tion to  Samuel  than  either  his  shop  or  his 
window ;  and  he  was  not  without  hope  that  he 
might  be  of  service  to  him.  With  unusual 
caution  and  deliberation,  he  paced  backward 
and  forward  before  the  old  gentleman's  door. 
The  morning  was  pleasant,  in  which  he  re- 
joiced. He  had  not  been  there  long  before 
the  object  of  his  desire  made  his  appearance 
They  exchanged  looks,  when  Samuel  accosted 
17 


258  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

him,  "  Bless  the  Lord  !  here  is  a  fine  morning." 
"It  ish,  it  ish  fery  fine,"  replied  the  Jew;  im- 
mediately inquiring — as  he  was  old,  and  could 
not  go  into  the  city  to  seek  it—"  Vat  pe  te  besht 
news  in  te  city  ?"  "  The  best  news  that  I  can 
hear,"  replied  Samuel,  "  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
pardoning  sinners,  and  sanctifying  believers." 
"  Poh,  poh,"  rejoined  the  old  man,  turning  up  his 
face,  "  tuff  and  nonshcnsh  !  it  ish  all  telushion." 
Samuel  was  as  ill  prepared  for  this,  as  the  Jew 
had  been  for  what  he  had  advanced,  and  ob- 
served, with  a  view  to  produce  instantaneous 
conviction — as  he  concluded  the  testimony  of 
his  own  experience  would  be  every  way  de- 
monstrative to  both  Jew  and  Gentile — "  If  it  be 
a  delusion,  it  is  a  hlesscd  delusion ;  for  I  am  very 
happy  in  it.  No,  no,  sir :  I  know  better.  I 
have  known  for  the  last  forty  years  that  Jesus 
Christ  has  power  upon  earth  to  forgive  sins, 
and  also  to  cleanse  from  all  unrighteousness." 
Alas,  for  Samuel,  he  ploughed  only  on  the  rock  : 
the  old  man  turned  his  back  upon  him  in  a  rage, 
as  though  Samuel  had  intended  to  insult  him — 
entered  his  shop — and  shut  the  door  in  his  face. 
Samuel  looked  after  him  with  the  disappoint- 
ment of  a  fowler,  who,  having  discharged  his 
piece,  and  expecting  the  game  to  drop  at  & 
short  distance,  sees  it  on  the  wing  and  un- 
touched; yet  expressed  his  gratitude,  in  "no 
being  numbered  with  unbelievers."  It  is  no 
a  little  amusing  to  find  him  in  the  chair  ol 
Lavater  after  this,  pronouncing  his  ODinion  with 
the  precision  of  a  physiognomist.     "  I  can  tell 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  259 

a  Jew,"  said  he,  "  as  I  pass  him  on  the  street ; 
for  his  countenance  is  gloomy  and  dark ;  not 
like  that  of  the  Christian,  which  is  cheerful  and 
pleasant :  and  who  has  such  a  right  to  he  cheer- 
ful as  the  man  that  has  Christ  formed  in  him 
the  hope  of  glory  ?"* 

On  finding  that  he  could  make  but  little  im- 
pression upon  the  Jew,  he  again  turned  to  the 
Gentile.  The  "  morning  meetings,"  at  five 
and  six  o'clock,  which  were  well  attended,  were 
among  the  most  salutary  he  enjoyed.  On  one 
occasion,  a  foreigner,  who  had  attended  out  of 
curiosity,  was  deeply  affected,  and  three  persons 
professed  to  have  received  the  blessing  of 
purity.  After  the  meetings  he  was  often  taken 
away  to  visit  the  sick,  and  pray  with  the 
penitent.  One  of  the  persons  who  came  before 
him  he  suspected  to  be  affected  with  worldly 
sorrow ;  and  this  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  he 
had  more  charity  than  judgment  in  all  cases  of 

*  This  was  not  his  first  attempt  at  physiognomy;  nor 
was  he  peculiar  in  his  views  on  the  subject.  He  had  read 
Isaiah,  who,  in  speaking  of  certain  characters,  says,  "  The 
show  of  their  countenance  doth  witness  against  them  ;"  and 
he  had  a  notion  that  religion  would  improve  the  exterior,  as 
well  as  the  interior,  of  every  human  being.  These  views 
escaped  in  prayer  once,  while  he  was  imploring  the  blessing 
of  God  upon  a  female  who  acted  in  the  capacity  of  cook  in 
a  family  which  he  visited.  Having  heard  a  little  of  the 
person  in  question,  and  having  inferred,  from  the  peculiar 
curvature  and  expression  of  the  face,  that  she  was  not 
blessed  with  a  redundancy  of  the  milder  qualities  which 
grace  the  softer  part  of  creation,  he  prayed  for  the  subjuga- 
tion of  every  improper  temper ;  and  as  an  inducement  to  her 
to  seek  after  personal  piety,  he  said  he  was  sure,  "  if  her 
soul  were  converted  to  God,  she  would  look  five  pounds 
better  than  she  did  then." 


260  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

distress :  another  he  was  called  to  visit — a 
stationer- — was  in  deep  despair.  With  a  view 
to  attract  persons  who  never  attended  a  place 
of  worship,  he  turned  out  into  the  street,  and 
stood  up,  accompanied  by  a  local  preacher,  in 
a  large  square.  The  householders  threw  open 
their  windows  to  listen  to  him,  and  the  people 
continued  to  crowd  around  him,  till  the  con- 
gregation might  be  denominated  large.  A 
person,  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  threw  a  bunch 
of  flowers  at  him,  and  was  otherwise  turbulent. 
Some  of  the  friends  were  about  to  remove  him 
by  violence,  when  Samuel  said,  "  Let  him 
alone  ;  he  cannot  hurt  me,  and  I  am  sure  I  shall 
not  harm  him."  The  man  was  subdued  by  the 
mildness  of  the  address.  "The  lion's  mouth," 
said  Samuel,  "  was  stopped."  While  preach- 
ing he  felt  great  tenderness  of  spirit.  This  was 
soon  manifested  by  the  people ;  for,  in  the 
language  of  Creech,  "  The  melted  is  the  melt- 
ing heart."  He  exhorted — he  beseeched — he 
reproved — he  wept — the  people  wept  in  con- 
cert with  him — and  having  forgotten  his  pocket- 
handkerchief,  he  borrowed  one  of  a  friend,  to 
wipe  away  the  tears  which  rolled  down  his  face. 
The  bunch  of  flowers  was  hailed  by  him  as  a 
slight  expression  of  "  persecution,"  in  the 
honours  pronounced  on  which  he  "rejoiced." 

Samuel  was  one  who  could  more  readily  re- 
collect a  kindness  than  an  injury ;  and  con- 
sidering himself  indebted  to  Michael  Angelo 
Taylor,  Esq.,  for  his  license,  who  then  resided 
in  London,  and  viewing  him  withal,  in  his  own 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  261 

words,  as  an  "  old  neighbour,"  he  went  to 
White-Hall  to  pay  his  respects  to  him.  The 
statesman  expressed  himself  as  glad  to  see  him, 
inquiring  the  occasion  which  had  brought  him 
to  town.  On  being  informed  that  it  was  the 
affliction  of  his  daughter,  Mr.  T.  signified  his 
regret.  Samuel,  on  the  contrary,  told  him  he 
felt  no  sorrow  on  her  account,  for  she  was 
"  very  happy,  and  ready  for  her  passage  to 
glory."  Mr.  T.  ordered  the  butler  to  give  him 
some  refreshment ;  the  apparent  kindness, 
prompting  which,  was  of  greater  value  to 
Samuel,  than  the  most  costly  viands. 

Samuel  remarked  toward  the  close  of  the 
month,  as  Mrs.  Wrathall's  health  still  declined, 
"  Our  dear  child  will  be  safe  landed  on  Canaan's 
happy  shore  in  a  short  time.  I  never  saw  such 
a  patient  creature  as  she  is.  She  has  not  much 
pain,  and  will  have  nothing  to  do  but  fall  asleep. 
She  began  to  change  last  week,  and  grows 
weaker  and  weaker."  Two  or  three  days  after, 
he  observed,  "  I  have  just  been  giving  your 
dear  child  her  breakfast.  If  you  only  saw  her 
in  her  affliction — so  thankful,  so  happy,  I  am 
sure  it  would  rejoice  your  heart.  If  she  is 
spared  a  little  longer,  it  will  be  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  good  of  those  that  come  to  see 
her  She  has  many  friends  :  I  can  scarcely  go 
anywhere  but  I  find  them.  Your  dear  Ann  is 
a  miracle.  She  is  not  afraid  of  going  out  to 
hear  me  preach.  I  hope  both  you  and  me,  and 
all  our  children,  and  even  our  children's  children, 
to  the  third  and  tourth  generation,  will  meet  at 


252  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

God's  right  hand."  On  the  30th  of  the  month, 
he  added,  "  Your  dear  child  is  very  happy  :" 
then  proceeding  to  generalize,  "  we  are  all 
peace  :  Ann  and  I  have  been  taking  some  re- 
freshment together,  and  have  just  been  at  the 
family  altar.  I  hope  you  do  not  forget  this 
duty;  and  be  sure  you  do  not  pinch  yourself  for 
comforts.  I  often  think  of  you  when  I  sit  down 
to  a  good  dinner,  and  wish  I  had  you,  my  dear, 
to  share  it  with  me.  But  if  we  do  not  sit  down 
at  one  table  now,  we  shall  eat  at  our  Father's 
table  together  hereafter.  My  lot  is  cast  in  a 
pleasant  place.  When  I  want  to  retire  to  read 
or  write,  I  have  a  room  to  go  into.  I  would 
not  swap  (exchange)  place  with  the  best  noble- 
man in  this  city." 

August. — This  month  presents  but  little 
variety,  besides  the  regular  work  of  preaching, 
praying,  and  visiting,  with  the  exception  of  a 
quickening  influence  in  one  of  the  prayer- 
meetings,  which  was  held  after  he  had  preached, 
in  which  a  person  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
persuasion  was  awakened.  Having  to  go  a 
considerable  distance  to  his  lodgings,  he  de- 
parted from  the  place  about  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
leaving,  as  he  expressed  himself,  "  the  frier.ds 
pleading  for  the  slain."  Before  the  close  of 
the  month,  his  Yorkshire  phrases,  his  zeal,  and 
the  influence  attending  his  homely  addresses, 
rendered  him  rather  conspicuous  among  his 
fellows.  To  this  he  was  not  altogether  blind  ; 
and  remarked  in  the  confidence  of  a  man  to  his 
wife,  "  I  am  well  known  in  London :  the  more 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  263 

work  I  do  the  more  I  have  to  do ;  and  when  it 
will  all  be  done  I  cannot  tell.  I  have  great 
pleasure  in  it.  The  Lord  is  saving  souls." 
Then,  as  before,  he  urged  Martha  not  to  pinch 
herself;  "  for,"  he  added,  "  I  am  sure  we  have 
as  much  as  will  keep  you ;  and  as  for  me,  my 
Master,  whom  I  love  and  serve,  will  supply  all 
my  needs  out  of  his  abundant  fulness.  The 
earth  is  his  own  property."  This  was  not  the 
language  that  arises  out  of  satiety  from  present 
indulgence,  on  finding  himself  seated  at  the 
table  of  his  son-in-law,  but  of  confidence  in  God, 
who  blesses  the  labourer  with  his  hire,  because 
worthy  of  it.  He  had  no  anxiety  on  his  own 
account ;  it  only  found  a  place  in  his  bosom  for 
others ;  and  toward  these  it  was  generally 
exercised  rather  in  reference  to  the  present 
exigencies  of  any  particular  case  than  with  a 
view  to  the  future  destiny  of  the  individual 
concerned.  His  faith  in  the  goodness,  power, 
and  veracity  of  God,  would  never  suffer  him  to 
bring  the  trials  of  to-morrow  on  those  of  to-day  ; 
or  by  afflictive  forebodings  to  go  out  and  meet 
his  exercises  half  way  :  and  even  "  the  evil"  of 
"  the  day,"  which  ought  to  be  deemed  "  sufficient" 
by  all  intelligent  beings,  was  deprived  of  great 
part  of  its  weight  with  Samuel,  and  thus  rendered 
light  and  momentary ,  through  the  grace  by  which 
he  was  supported,  and  the  glorious  hope  of  a 
blessed  immortality.  Nothing  but  personal  piety 
could  have  enabled  him  to  overcome  parental 
feeling  so  far  as  to  give  him  the  appearance  of 
being   not    only   all  peace,   but   covered   with 


264  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

sunshine  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  just  on  the 
point  of  entering,  in  the  midst  of  a  beloved 
daughter's  affliction.  At  the  close  of  this  month, 
as  on  that  of  the  preceding  one,  he  had  only  to 
report  increasing  debility  with  regard  to  Mrs. 
W.  "  Ann  and  I  have  been  getting  up  your 
dear  afflicted  child.  She  is  very  happy  in  soul, 
but  very  weak  in  body."  He  waked  and  watched 
by  her  with  a  solicitude  like  that  of  a  mother 
rather  than  that  of  a  father,  and  never  permitted 
his  public  labours  to  intrench  upon  the  atten- 
tions demanded  by  natural  affection. 

September. — Though  happy  among  the  per- 
sons with  whom  he  associated,  his  jovs  were 
considerably  increased  on  any  arrival  from 
Yorkshire,  whether  it  turned  up  in  the  shape  of 
a  human  face,  a  letter,  or  a  message.  Among 
several  persons  noticed,  no  one  was  viewed 
with  more  unmingled  pleasure  than  W.  Scarth, 
Esq.,  of  Leeds,  who  invited  him  to  take  tea  at 
his  lodgings — the  house  of  the  widow  of  the 
late  Rev.  C.  Atmore — "  Where,''  said  Samuel, 
"  we  spent  a  little  bit  comfortable  time  together." 
Mr.  S.  told  him  that  his  presence  and  labours 
would  be  required  at  home :  this,  with  an  oral 
communication  from  Ratcliffe  Close,  to  pay 
another  visit  to  that  place,  where  he  had  been 
so  useful  among  the  Sunday-school  children, 
operated  upon  him  like  the  promise  ot  a  week's 
work  to  a  poor  man,  who  is  overjoyed  with  the 
tidings  of  a  second  job  before  the  first  is  finished. 
His  only  wish  for  life  arose  from  his  desire  to 
be  useful. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  265 

Next  to  a  friend  from  Yorkshire  was  the  de- 
light he  experienced  in  again  beholding  the 
face  of  God's  creation,  in  a  view  of  the  country. 
His  eye  had  been  accustomed  to  rove  over  the 
beauty,  the  wildness,  and  the  freshness  of  open 
rural  scenery  ;  and  though  he  knew  not  the  sen- 
timent of  the  writer  who  said,  "  God  made  the 
country,  but  man  made  the  town ;"  yet  he  felt 
like  a  person  who  saw  more  of  his  Maker's 
hand  in  the  trees  and  in  the  shrubs  than  in  a 
range  of  buildings — like  one  whose  eye  had  not 
only  a  wider  range,  but  whose  lungs  had  some- 
thing like  fair  play,  and  with  whom  respiration 
seemed  to  be  aided.  Mr.  Knight  drove  him 
fifteen  miles  into  the  country  in  a  gig.  He 
felt  like  a  child  let  loose  from  the  nursery. 
Absence  had  given  additional  richness  to  the 
verdure.  "  I  was  glad,"  said  he,  "  to  see  the 
fields  look  so  green.  The, Lord  is  sending  us  a 
Michaelmas  summer,  and  a  fine  seed-time.  He 
is  making  up  for  the  loss  of  last  year.  Bless 
his  dear  name  !  he  is  very  kind  to  us.  After 
taking  the  rod  to  us,  he  then  shows  us  his  sal- 
vation. He  never  does  wrong:  he  does  all  in 
love  ;  and  it  is  well  done.  What  we  know  not 
now,  we  shall  know  hereafter." 

He  was  favoured  with  a  still  farther  treat,  in 
being  taken  into  Kent,  by  Mr.  Cooper,  who 
married  his  niece,  and  with  whom  he  remained 
a  fortnight.  On  his  return  he  made  a  collec- 
tion for  a  Sunday  school ;  and  such  was  the 
concourse  of  people,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
preach  out  of  doors.     The  collection  amounted 


266  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH 

to  about  double  the  sum  to  what  it  had  been  on 
any  former  occasion. 

Mr.  Pocock's  plan  of  tent-preaching,  which 
had  reached  the  metropolis,  presented  a  novel 
scene  to  Samuel ;  and  in  one  of  these  he  held 
forth  the  word  of  life.  But  in  no  meeting,  of  a 
purely  religious  character,  did  he  appear  so 
much  in  his  element  as  in  those  he  held  after 
preaching,  to  which  there  has  been  such  re- 
peated reference.  In  one  of  these,  in  the 
course  of  this  month,  after  he  had  made  a  col- 
lection for  a  chapel,  which  had  undergone  some 
repairs,  he  gave  the  people  an  account  of  a  plan 
adopted  in  the  York  circuit,  during  a  revival. 
He  told  them  that  the  friends  "  set  three 
bcnks"*  (benches,) — one  for  penitents — another 
for  backsliders — and  a  third  for  those  that 
wanted  full  salvation  ;  and  that  while  they  sung 
a  verse  or  two  of  a  hymn,  the  people  filled  the 
benks.  They  then  went  to  prayer,  and  the 
Lord  poured  out  his  Spirit  upon  them.  Whether 
this  systematic  plan  was  adopted  by  the  me- 

*  This  appears  to  tie  from  the  Saxon  bene,  a  long  seat  ;  as 
banc,  in  the  same  language,  signifies  a  long  heap  of  earth. 
It  is  hence  that  our  bench  is  derived.  Bankan,  a  ban*  ; 
maingk,  beinse,  and  benk,  a  bench  ;  bank  and  bench  being  one 
and  the  same  word,  signifying  a  long  sitting  place,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  British  judges,  who  sat  for  ages  upon  banks 
instead  of  benches.  It  is  t do  same  with  the  Irish  bale, 
which  answers  to  the  bale  of  the  Welsh,  and  denotes  a  lialk 
of  land,  as  also  does  a  bench.  Banquet  is  supposed  to  he  a 
slip  of  the  same  root.  Banquegeal  is  to  feast,  and  banuez, 
banket  is  a  feast  ;  the  idea  being  taken  from  sitting  to  a  table, 
as  cinio  is  a  feast  ;  and  ciniau,  cuy?ios  a  table,  from  sitting 
on  banks  or  benches  to  it,  as  banquette,  in  French,  is  at 
present  a  small  bank  in  fortification. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  267 

tropolitans  on  the  occasion  is  not  stated :  but 
it  is  affirmed  that  ten  persons  were  blessed, 
— some  with  pardon,  and  others  with  the  sancti- 
fication  of  the  Spirit.  He  closed  the  month  by 
attending  one  of  the  quarterly  meetings,  and  by 
preaching  at  St.  George's  chapel.  His  ex- 
cellent daughter  continued  to  approach  nearer 
and  nearer  the  grand  boundary  line  which 
divides  time  and  eternity — her  fairest  prospects 
on  the  one  side,  and  her  infirmities  only  on 
the  other. 

October. — While  some  of  the  preachers 
and  friends  were  characterized  by  Samuel  as 
"  flames  of  fire,"  there  were  others  who  were 
less  favourable  to  his  mode  of  proceeding,  and 
of  course  required  more  zeal.  But  having  only 
one  straight-forward  course,  admonitory  inter- 
positions were  generally  fruitless.  A  female, 
having  been  convinced  of  sin  while  he  was 
preaching  on  Rom.  viii,  13,  was  in  deep  dis- 
tress in  one  of  the  prayer  meetings.  He  knelt 
down  to  pray  for  her  ;  and  experiencing  unusual 
freedom,  he  elevated  his  voice  to  an  extraor- 
dinary height.  "  One  of  the  London  preachers,' 
said  he,  "  came  to  me,  and  pulled  me  by  the 
coat.  I  asked  him  what  was  the  matter :  and 
he  told  me  not  to  pray  so  loud,  as  another 
person  was  in  distress  in  the  chapel,  and  it 
produced  confusion.  But  I  took  no  notice  of 
the  discharge  :  I  prayed  on  till  the  Lord  set  her 
soul  at  liberty,  and  she  declared  it  in  the  great 
congregation."  He  added,  "  It  is  better  to 
obey  God  than  man."     He  had  never  learned 


268  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

to  sound  a  retreat :  "  Onuiard,"  was  his  motto 
in  every  thing  that  concerned  the  soul ;  and 
this  he  was  constantly  urging  upon  others,  as 
well  as  dwelling  upon  himself.  To  a  friend  he 
observed,  about  the  same  time,  "  I  hope,  my 
dear  brother,  you  are  still  going  on  in  the  good 
old  way,  which  leads  to  glory  and  to  God.  If 
we  get  religion  to  live  with,  we  shall  have 
religion  to  die  with."  Then,  with  no  bad 
attempt  at  smartness,  he  asked,  "  Die,  did  I  say  ? 
No,  that  is  a  wrong  term  for  a  Christian.  It 
is  religion  to  fall  asleep  with.  When  David 
finished  his  work,  he  slept  with  his  fathers. 
The  prophets  also  fell  asleep ;  and  St.  Paul 
asks,  '  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  Thanks 
be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.' "  It  was  the  con- 
sciousness of  preparation  which  he  carried 
about  with  him,  that  deprived  death  of  its 
terrors,  and  kept  alive  the  notion  of  sleep — of  a 
person  just  closing  his  eyes,  and  going  to  rest 
after  the  toils  of  the  day. 

It  was  as  natural  for  him  to  converse  on  re- 
ligious subjects  as  it  was  to  breathe;  and 
almost  as  impossible  for  him  to  see  or  hear 
any  thing,  without  connecting  religion  with  it. 
After  a  tremendous  night  of  thunder,  lightning, 
wind,  and  rain,  on  the  10th  of  the  month,  he 
remarked,  "  We  have  been  spared  from  the 
threatening  storm  by  a  kind  Protector  ;  but  I  am 
afraid  we  shall  hear  of  many  lives  being  lost 
on  the  wide  ocean.  The  rain  has  washed  the 
tiles  and  the  streets  clean.     The  tiles  look  as 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  269 

if  they  were  new.  My  prayer  is,  that  God 
would  send  a  thunder  storm  into  every  sinner's 
heart,  and  the  lightning  of  his  Spirit,  to  enlighten 
every  sinner's  conscience  ;  and  that  he  would, 
by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  cleanse  the 
hearts  of  all  true  believers,  as  he  has  washed 
the  tiles  and  the  streets  of  this  city." 

He  had  laboured  and  prayed  much  for  the 
heathen  ;  and  though  divided  from  them  by  seas 
and  continents,  a  circumstance  occurred,  which 
appeared  to  bring  them  to  his  own  door,  in  the 
person  of  a  black,  who  sat  as  his  hearer  in  one 
of  the  chapels.  His  hue  awakened  all  Samuel's 
sympathies  for  the  negroes  of  the  West  India 
Islands.  So  much  was  his  mind  absorbed  in 
the  subject,  that  the  whole  congregation  of 
whites  appeared  to  be  concentrated  in  this 
swarthy  son  of  Ham.  He  told  them  that  God 
was  no  respecter  of  persons — that  persons  of 
all  nations  working  righteousness  were  accepted 
of  him — and  that  colour,  size,  and  age,  made 
no  difference  to  him,  provided  they  came  as 
penitents  to  his  footstool.  Such  were  the  effects 
produced  by  his  pointed  and  personal  appeals, 
that  the  black  got  up  in  the  midst  of  the  people, 
and  attested  the  goodness  of  God  personally  to 
himself,  in  the  forgiveness  of  all  his  sins. 
Samuel  went  home  with  him — he  being  in  com- 
fortable circumstances — and  took  supper  with 
him  ;  and  was  pleased  to  find  that  "  he  had  as 
clear  a  witness  of  the  Spirit  as  a  white  man." 
The  last  expression  would  seem  to  indicate  as 
ihough  he  had    been  infected  with  the   slave- 


270  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

holder's  cant,  that  negroes  are  an  inferior  race 
of  beings,  and  incapable  of  improvement ;  and 
for  the  weakest  and  most  innocent  minds  to  re- 
ceive a  taint  from  the  opinion,  in  its  progress 
through  European  society,  only  shows  the  ne- 
cessity of  mooting  it,  by  opposing  to  it  the  stub 
bornness  of  fact,  in  instances  of  religious  and 
intellectual  improvement. 

Mr.  Wrathall  received  a  letter  from  Grassing- 
ton  about  this  lime,  requesting  his  presence,  on 
account  of  the  indisposition  of  his  uncle,  to 
whom  he  was  left  executor,  and  who  was  in 
fact  at  the  point  of  death.  Mrs.  Wrathall's 
increasing  debility  rendered  the  prospect  of 
absence  the  more  painful.  However,  the  cer- 
tainty of  her  father's  society  was  an  agreeable 
compensation  for  the  temporary  loss  proposed. 
In  writing  home  on  the  11th,  he  remarked, 
"  Your  dear  daughter  Rosamond  is  much  better 
this  morning  than  she  has  been  for  some  days 
past.  We  thought  a  few  days  ago  she  was 
about  to  enter  her  eternal  rest.  But  the  Lord 
does  all  things  well.  She  has  been  made  a 
blessing  to  many.  She  expressed  her  thank- 
fulness for  her  food  this  morning,  and  gave  out 
that  verse,  '  We  thank  thee,  Lord,  for  this  our 
food.'  I  believe  I  shall  have  cause  to  bless 
God  to  all  eternity  for  her."  Her  bodily  im- 
provement, alas  !  was  but  of  short  duration  ;  for 
she  died  on  the  17th  of  the  month,  a  blessed 
witness  of  the  power  of  God  to  save  to  the 
uttermost. 

Samuel    continued  in    London  afier  the  do- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  271 

cease  of  his  daughter,  till  January,  1828,  in  tho 
early  part  of  which  month  he  paid  a  visit  to 
Windsor,  partly  out  of  respect  to  it  as  the 
seat  of  royalty,  and  partly  in  compliance  with 
an  invitation  from  some  friends ;  and  was 
escorted  thither  by  a  person  from  town.  A 
pious  soldier  of  the  name  of  Wm.  Emmott,  a 
corporal  in  the  Royal  Horse  Guards,  was  the 
only  person  with  whom  he  had  any  acquaintance. 
He  preached  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival,  and 
held  a  prayer  meeting  afterward.  So  much 
were  the  people  pleased  and  profited,  that  they 
requested  him  to  remain  with  them  a  few  days. 
Mr.  Pollard,  the  superintendent,  wrote  to  Miss 
Hick,  his  daughter,  who  was  at  Mr.  WrathalPs, 
January  7th,  stating  his  intention.  Part  of  the 
note  is,  "  Your  father  is  going  to  stay  with  us 
at  Windsor  over  the  next  sabbath.  He  is  very 
happy  and  useful."  Samuel  added  on  the  same 
page,  "  My  dear  child,  this  morning  I  am  in 
my  glory.  The  Lord  poured  out  his  Spirit  at 
the  prayer  meeting  last  night.  Four  souls  ob- 
tained liberty ;  and  many  were  blessed.  If 
spared  till  to-morrow,  I  am  bown  to  see  Dr. 
Clarke.  He  has  sent  me  word,  that  he  will 
give  me  a  week's  board.  There  is  a  great 
work  to  do  in  this  place  ;  and  you  know  I  love 
the  Lord  with  all  my  heart.  1  have  been  at  the 
king's  stables,  where  my  brother-in-law  con- 
versed with  his  majesty.  Our  brother  Jeb  is 
with  me,  who  will  return  to-day.  God  bless 
you  all.  You  must  take  me  in  when  I  come." 
He  was  shown  over  the  grounds  and  castle 


272  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

of  Windsor.  The  road  leading  up  to  tho 
palace,  the  flight  of  steps,  the  rooms,  the  paint- 
ings, and  the  extensive  prospect  from  the  sum- 
mit— presenting,  he  observed,  "  a  view  of 
twelve  counties'' — were  what  appeared  to  have 
fixed  attention,  and  left  his  mind,  like  a  "  cham- 
ber of  imagery,"  imbued  with  their  various 
forms.  And  yet,  much  as  he  was  impressed 
with  these,  they  did  not  excite  the  emotions  of 
which  he  was  the  subject,  when  he  could  con- 
nect any  thing  celestial  or  devotional  with 
what  passed  in  review.  Thus  the  representa- 
tion of  the  late  lamented  Princess  Charlotte, 
with  her  infant,  ascending  to  heaven,  fired  his 
fancy,  and  melted  his  heart.  "  It  was,"  in  his 
own  language,  "  as  naturablc  (natural)  as  life." 
But  fascinated  as  he  was  with  this,  a  stronger 
feeling  was  produced — only  not  so  permanent 
— by  the  sight  of  the  old  cushion — to  which 
allusion  has  been  already  made — upon  which 
his  Majesty  George  III.  knelt  during  his  morn- 
ing devotions.  "  The  cushion,'' said  Samuel, 
"  was  worn  through  with  constant  kneeling. 
I  knelt  me  down  upon  it,  and  prayed  that 
the  time  might  come  when  all  his  majesty's 
subjects  would  wear  out  their  cushions  with 
praying."  This  "  divine  breathing,"  though 
oddly  expressed,  was  sincere  ;  and  few,  per- 
haps, have  been  the  persons  that  have  ap- 
proached his  prayerful  example  on  visiting  the 
royal  domain. 

The  following  selections  from  a  letter  written 
just  before  he  left  Windsor  will  show  the  spirit 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  273 

in  which  he  continued:  "Thursday  was  spent 
to  the  glory  of  God.  I  preached  at  Chertsey, 
about  two  miles  from  Windsor,  at  night,  and 
held  a  prayer  meeting.  Many  were  blessed. 
Friday  was  spent  in  singing  and  in  prayer. 
We  had  a  prayer  meeting  at  night.  Bless  the 
Lord !  after  a  good  night's  rest,  I  arose  happy 
in  my  soul.  I  had  a  good  preparation  for  the 
second  sabbath  of  the  new  year.  Praise  the 
Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  his  benefits. 
I  preached  on  the  Sunday  forenoon,  and  held  a 
lovefeast  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  a  precious 
time  to  my  soul :  and  the  friends  told  me  they 
never  had  such  a  lovefeast  before.  After 
preaching  at  night,  we  had  a  gseat  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  is  truly  a  wicked 
place.  There  are  many  soldiers  in  it.  Method- 
ism is  very  low ;  but  I  hope  the  time  will  come 
when  it  shall  blossom  like  the  rose.  Most  of 
the  people  in  the  town  appear  to  be  going  the 
church-way,  blindfold,  to  hell.  The  king  has 
his  residence  at  this  place ;  and  the  people, 
like  the  Romans,  must  worship  like  their  king. 
But  I  pray'that  the  churches  may  be  supplied 
with  gospel-preachers  ;  and  then  they  will  be 
filled  with  gospel-hearers.  May  the  Lord  hasten 
that  happy  day !" 

On  his  return  to  London,  where  it  is  probable 
his  stay  would  have  been  still  protracted,  he 
found  a  summons  from  Yorkshire,  requesting 
his  presence,  to  discharge  a  debt  of  friendship. 
Mrs.  Pullein,  of  Follifoot,  had  exacted  a  pro- 
mise from  him,  that  in  the  event  of  his  surviving 
18 


274  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

her,  he  should  preach  her  funeral  sermon.  On 
her  demise,  the  family  wrote  to  Samuel.  His 
friends  told  him  it  was  not  necessary  he  should 
go  then, — that  he  should  go  on  purpose, — or 
even  take  a  journey  at  all  of  such  a  distance, 
at  his  age,  and  during  such  a  season,  to  preach 
a  single  sermon,  particularly  as  there  were 
preachers  in  Yorkshire  who  could  supply  his 
lack  of  service.  But  though  they  knew  the 
nature  of  a  promise,  they  felt  nothing  of  its 
responsibility  pressing  upon  their  consciences, 
and  could  therefore  satisfy  themselves  with 
what  they  were  not  personally  called  upon  to 
discharge.  Samuel  felt  it  in  all  its  weight,  and 
connected  with  it  all  the  solemnities  of  the 
occasion,  and  said,  "  When  I  meet  Mrs.  Pullein 
in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  and  she 
asks,  '  Sammy,  did  not  you  promise  to  preach 
my  funeral  sermon  V  what  shall  I  say  ?  I  have 
promised,  and  must  go."  He  obeyed  the  call. 
He  took  for  his  text  Numbers  xxiii,  10,  "Let 
me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous;"  on  reading 
which  he  closed  the  Bible,  and  said  to  the 
people,  "  Now,  if  you  will  live  the  life,  you  shall 
die  the  death  of  the  righteous;  and  much  more 
than  this  I  cannot  tell  you,  if  I  were  to  preach 
to  you  ever  so  long."  Though  he  had  travelled 
upward  of  two  hundred  miles  to  preach  this 
occasional  sermon,  he  only  spoke  about  ten 
minutes. 

His  warm  and  kindly  feelings,  and  the  utter 
intractability  of  his  nature  to  bend  to  the  be- 
coming gravities,  whether  real  or  assumed,  of 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  275 

funeral  occasions,  would  sometimes  disturb  the 
serious  aspect  of  a  whole  company.  As  he 
knew  no  feelings,  except  those  which  he  or- 
dinarily carried  about  with  him,  so  he  had  but 
one  face,  one  attitude,  one  mode  of  expressing 
himself,  whatever  might  be  the  event  or  the 
circumstances  in  which  persons  might  be  placed. 
His  sincerity,  and  his  ignorance  of  all  etiquette, 
would  admit  of  nothing  else.  Thus,  several 
years  prior  to  this,  he  was  invited  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  Mrs.  W.,  of  Garforth,  on  the 
occasion  of  whose  death  a  sermon  was  preached, 
and  afterward  published,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Wood. 
A  cold  collation  was  provided  for  the  friends  on 
the  day  of  interment,  which,  as  the  company 
was  large,  was  served  up  in  a  malt-kiln,  where 
one  party  succeeded  another,  returning,  when 
refreshed,  to  a  large  room.  Samuel,  with  others, 
had  made  preparations  for  a  funeral  sermon. 
His  text,  he  told  the  friends,  was  given  to  him 
in  sleep ;  on  which  occasion  he  had  roused 
Martha,  as  he  had  done  in  reference  to  the 
dream  which  sealed  his  call  to  the  ministry,  and 
to  which  she  paid  equal  attention,  when  the  in- 
formation was  communicated.  The  text  was, 
"  I  was  a  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat." 
But  honest  Samuel,  not  being  favoured  with  a 
concordance,  was  unable  to  advert  to  the  book, 
the  chapter,  and  the  verse,  where  it  was  to  be 
found,  and  therefore  had  to  institute  an  inquiry 
among  his  friends  for  his  farther  satisfaction. 
He  had  a  heart  to  receive  the  impression  which 
truth  made  upon  it,  and    memory  sufficient  to 


276  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

retain  the  sentiment,  and  often  the  form  of  ex- 
pression ;  but,  like  many  others,  of  much  more 
reading,  the  common-place  book  of  his  recollec- 
tion could  not  in  every  instance  carry  the  pen- 
man's title  and  his  page.  The  mind  being  set 
at  rest,  as  it  regarded  the  text,  and  the  excel- 
lences of  the  deceased  being  the  subject  of 
conversation,  Samuel  wept,  and  in  the  midst  of 
his  tears,  sent  forth  a  smile  of  joy  at  the  thought 
of  another  soul  having  weathered  the  storm  of 
life,  and  obtained  firm  footing  on  the  opposite 
shore,  where  the  heaving  surges  are  smoothed 
down  to  a  "  sea  of  glass."  He  intimated  his 
intention  to  preach  a  sermon  on  the  occasion  of 
her  death,  in  one  of  the  chapels  ;  and  stated 
further,  with  his  usual  arllessness — not  aware 
that  the  disclosure  would  subject  him  to  a  little 
concealed  pleasantry — that  he  had  penned  his 
thoughts  on  the  subject,  placing  his  hand  to  his 
pocket,  with  a  still  farther  intimation  that  he 
had  the  MS.  with  him.  Some  of  the  friends, 
who  were  less  the  subjects  of  sorrow  than  the 
immediate  relations  of  the  deceased,  perceiving 
that  he  only  required  an  invitation  to  bring  the 
production  to  light,  and  knowing  the  singular 
charaeter  which  his  thoughts  assumed  in  the 
dress  in  which  they  were  generally  arrayed, 
requested  him  to  read  what  he  had  penned  to 
the  company, — hoping  withal,  that  some  gems 
might  turn  up  that  would  interest  the  hearers. 
Samuel  took  hold  of  his  pocket  with  one  hand, 
and  the  MS.  with  the  other,  and  drew  it  forth, 
a  good  deal  .sullied  and  cramped,  as  though  it 


THE    VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH.  277 

had  been  forged  in  the  smithy,  arid  lain  in  his 
pocket  with  other  things  since  it  had  been 
written.  He  sprung  from  his  chair — proceeded 
across  the  room — placed  his  glasses  in  order 
— turned  his  shoulder  to  the  window,  and  the 
MS.  to  the  light — looked  and  looked  again — 
occasionally  contracting  his  eyes,  and  adding 
to  the  adjustment  of  his  spectacles.  Not  suc- 
ceeding to  his  wishes,  he  turned  the  other 
shoulder  to  the  window — permitting  as  much  of 
the  light  to  fall  upon  the  paper  as  possible, — 
hemming,  and  stammering,  and  shuffling — till 
at  length,  in  a  fit  of  impatience  and  disappoint- 
ment, and  without  being  able  to  work  his  way 
through  a  single  sentence,  he  threw  it  down 
on  the  table  before  the  Rev.  J.  Wood,  saying, 
"  There,  Mr.  Wood, — I  cannot  read  it — take  it, 
and  try  what  you  can  do  with  it,"  smacking  his 
glasses  into  their  case,  like  a  sword  into  its 
scabbard,  and  stalking  across  the  room  again  to 
his  seat.  When  it  is  remarked,  that  this  was 
too  much  for  the  gravity  of  Mr.  Wood,  the 
reader  is  left  to  conjecture  the  effect  produced 
upon  others.  Yet,  with  all  this,  Samuel  was 
left  the  subject  of  weeping,  smiling,  unsuspect- 
ing simplicity. 


278  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Takes  a  tour  through  different  parts  of  Yorkshire — Low 
state  of  the  work  of  God  at  Warter — Gives  the  preference 
to  vocal  music  in  a  place  of  worship — Goes  into  the  Snaith 
circuit — Goole — Meets  with  old  friends — Is  affected  with 
early  recollections,  <>n  visiting  the  scene  of  Martha's  juvenile 
day 8— Prayer  meetings — Returns  to  Yorkshire — Labours  in 
tin-  Easingwold  circuit — Is  again  cheered  with  the  sight  of 
old  associates — Mis  increasing  popularity — Meets  with  a 
serious  accident  by  a  fall  from  his  horse — His  conduct  when 
under  medical  attendance— Is  visited  by  Mr.  Dawson — His 
partial  restoration  to  health — Visits  the  West  Riding — Pro- 
ceeds into  Lancashire — Is  attacked  by  an  infidel  while 
preaching  out  of  doors  at  Bolton — Is  summoned  by  letter  to 
<  !  rassington — Becomes  seriously  indisposed — Witnesses  the 
happy  death  of  his  niece — Returns  home — Declines  rapidly 
in  health — Attends  to  some  funeral  arrangements — His  state 
of  mind — His  triumphant  death — The  general  sympathy  ex- 
cited on  the  oc.cssion — Conclusion. 

On  bis  return  home,  he  continued  with  the 
same  diligence,  which  had  previously  dis- 
tinguished his  conduct,  to  benefit  his  fellow- 
creatures.  The  great  religious  institutions  of 
the  nineteenth  century  were  styled  by  him  "  the 
seeds  of  the  millennium  ;"  and  every  act  of  his 
own  was  viewed  as  an  effort  to  force  the  shoots  ; 
— a  tree  this,  which  will  throw  its  mighty 
shadow  over  every  nation  under  heaven. 

The  year  (1828)  was  begun  in  the  spirit  in 
which  its  predecessor  had  closed — a  spirit 
purely  devotional.  Having  been  at  home  a  short 
time,  he  again  left  it,  and  went  into  the  Pock- 
lington  circuit,  tarrying  a  night  on  tire  road,  at 
the  house  of  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Peart.  One  of 
the  travelling  preachers   being  indisposed,  he 


THE   VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  279 

was  requested  to  supply  a  few  places.  At 
Warter,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Wolds, 
which  was  the  place  where  he  opened  his  com- 
mission, he  found  but  little  of  that  fermented 
feeling  which  he  had  seen  manifested  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  York.  He  found  preaching 
here,  he  remarked,  "  as  hard  work  as  labouring 
at  the  anvil."  The  word  seemed  to  rebound 
upon  himself,  and  so  to  "  return  void."  "  There 
was  as  great  a  difference  in  the  climate,  for  re- 
ligion," continued  he,  between  the  district  he 
had  left,  and  that  upon  which  he  had  entered, 
"  as  between  summer  and  winter."  But  he 
"  claimed,''  as  he  stated,  his  "  privilege  of  hav- 
ing a  prayer  meeting  after  preaching,"  and  re- 
quested those  who  were  desirous  of  pardon, 
"  to  come  up  to  the  benk."  The  wife  of  a 
blacksmith  was  one  who  acceded  to  the  pro- 
posal ;  and,  having  been  some  time  under  re- 
ligious awakenings,  was  prepared  for  the  con- 
solations of  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  she  ob- 
tained through  the  exercise  of  faith  in  Christ 
At  Pocklington,  Elvington,  and  Sutton-upon- 
Derwent,  he  was  exceedingly  happy  in  his 
work. 

From  hence  he  proceeded  to  Selby,  and  at- 
tended the  March  quarterly  meeting.  Here 
he  was  hospitably  entertained  by  Mr.  B. 
Clarkson.  His  congregations  were  large,  and 
the  blessing  of  God  attended  his  labours.  Ho 
was  especially  delighted  with  the  singing.  "  I 
never  heard  such  singing  before,"  he  remarked  : 
"  they    have   no    instruments — no     fiddles — no 


280  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

organs.  They  sing  with  the  spirit,  and  with 
the  understanding  also.  I  thought  when  I 
heard  them,  if  our  friends  at  Leeds  would  only 
use  their  voices  to  praise  the  Lord,  it  would 
not  only  be  more  pleasing  to  him,  but  they 
would  be  more  blessed  in  their  souls  ;  for  sing- 
ing is  worshipping  God."  This  is  the  common- 
sense  view  of  the  subject ;  and  the  last  sentence 
falls  with  the  weight  of  a  destructive  hammer 
upon  every  instrument  of  music  in  a  place  of 
Christian  worship.  He  spoke  of  peace  and 
prosperity  in  the  Selby  circuit,  and  hoped  that 
the  time  would  soon  come,  when,  in  other 
places,  "  party  zeal  would  be  driven  to  its  own 
hell." 

The  port  of  Goole,  a  place  in  the  Snaith 
circuit,  had,  in  the  space  of  six  years,  increased 
in  its  population  from  two  hundred  to  nearly 
one  thousand  inhabitants.  A  Wesleyan  society 
had  been  established  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
the  place  in  which  they  worshipped  latterly 
was  a  temporary  erection,  raised  at  the  expense 
of  the  Aire  and  Calder  Canal  Company,  and  in 
which  a  number  of  Sunday  scholars  were  taught. 
The  place  being  small  and  uncomfortable,  the 
friends  agreed  to  build  a  chapel,  toward  which 
Mr.  Hamer,  who  was  the  first  to  enter  his  name, 
subscribed  jC50.  On  the  same  day,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  few  hours,  upward  of  jCIOO  wan 
promised.  One  of  the  Snaith  friends,  having 
heard  of  Samuel's  success  in  different  instances, 
requested  that  he  should  be  invited  to  aid  them. 
He  was  accordingly  written  to,  but  the  letter 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  281 

not  reaching  him  immediately,  if  at  all,  he  did 
not  proceed  thither  till  one  of  the  circuit  preach- 
ers had  personally  expressed  to  him  their  wish. 

He  proceeded,  therefore,  from  Selby  to  Snaith, 
and  its  adjacencies.  In  the  earlier  stage  of  the 
visit,  April  13th,  he  observes,  "I  am  now  at 
Goole.  I  have  to  preach  every  night ;  and  on 
the  sabbath  day  I  shall  have  to  preach  three 
times.  You  see,  the  Lord  finds  me  work,  and, 
as  I  love  it,  I  have  plenty  of  it.  He  gives  me 
favour  in  the  sight  of  the  people.  The  places 
for  preaching  are  too  small  for  them:  they 
flock  like  doves  to  their  windows."  He  was 
here  visited  by  a  female,  an  old  acquaintance, 
who  once,  with  her  husband,  walked  in  the 
light  of  God's  countenance,  but  had  also,  with 
him,  retraced  her  steps  to  the  world.  Through 
his  preaching  and  conversation  they  were 
again  roused  from  the  torpor  of  spirit  which 
had  seized  them  ;  and  to  render  their  return  to 
the  church  of  God  more  secure,  he  entered  the 
name  of  the  female  into  his  memorandum-book, 
in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  give  the  su- 
perintendent of  the  circuit  proper  directions,  to 
find  out  such  stray  sheep.  The  woman,  said 
he,  "sprang  from  a  good  stock.  Her  grand- 
mother, Ruth  Naylor,  was  a  good  mother,  a 
good  wife,  and  a  good  Christian.  My  creed  is, 
that  God  will  save  to  the  third  and  fourth  gen- 
eration. This  has  been  the  case  in  my  fam.ly, 
and  in  many  a  family :  yes,  and  he  will  bless 
to  a  thousand  generations." 

While  going    from  place  to  place,    several 


282  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

other  friendships  were  revived.  At  Swinefleet 
he  entered  among  the  friends  of  Mr.  Knight  ; 
at  another  place  he  met  with  a  ship-captain,  a 
religious  character,  in  whose  vessel  he  had 
preached  a  sermon  during  his  last  visit  to  Lon- 
don ;  and  at  a  third  place,  out  of  the  Snaith 
circuit,  he  had  several  interviews  with  his 
friend  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Armin.  Amid  many 
pleasing  remembrances,  however,  there  was 
one  connected  with  the  early  history  of  Martha, 
which  was  the  occasion  of  much  painful  feel- 
ing. "  Yesterday,''  he  observes  on  writing 
home  to  her,  "  I  preached  at  Garthorp,  in  Mars- 
land,  near  the  place  where  you  lived  when  you 
were  with  J.  H.  The  house  you  lived  in  is 
now  pulled  down,  and  a  new  one  built.  The 
chapel  which  I  preached  in  is  built  over  against 
it.  The  congregation  was  large  ;  and  I  took 
tea  with  the  blacksmith.  He  knew  you  well; 
but  he  is  now  going  off:  he  has  been  in  a  dy- 
ing state  for  the  last  twelve  years.  I  assure 
you,  I  thought  of  your  journey  out  of  Lincoln- 
shire ;  I  could  scarcely  ever  get  you  out  of  my 
head; — to  think  of  your  usage  with  that  ungod- 
ly man  !  But  he  has  gone  to  his  reward.  I 
thought  of  your  journey,  when  you  could  not 
keep  your  shoes  on  your  feet  ;  but  the  roads 
are  stoned  and  very  good  now.  I  wish  you 
were  here,  to  see  your  old  friends.  I  have 
heard  you  say,  that  the  blacksmith's  wife  was 
very  good  to  you,  when  you  were  ill.  I  saw 
the  (lag  that  parts  the  counties.  But  I  will  tell 
you  more,  if  I  am  spared  to  get  home."     In  ad- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  283 

dition  to  this,  he  had  been  informed  of  some 
misunderstanding  among  some  of  the  friends  at 
Micklefield,  which  had  warped  their  better 
feelings  toward  each  other.  On  this,  he  re- 
marks, "  I  hope  you  have  got  peace  proclaimed, 
and  all  jarring  buried.  I  will  say  the  funeral 
service  over  it, — '  Earth  to  earth,  dust  to  dust, 
ashes  to  ashes.'  The  sooner  it  is  buried  the 
better.  Love  cannot  dwell  where  there  is  pre- 
judice and  party  spirit.  Give  my  love  to  all 
my  neighbours  and  friends :  tell  them  I  am 
happy,  and  in  a  good  state  of  health." 

Armin,  which  was  one  of  Samuel's  favourite 
places,  in  consequence  of  Mr.  Thompson 
granting  him  perfect  liberty  to  follow  the  bias 
of  his  own  mind,  often  became  the  scene  of 
strong  religious  excitement,  and  through  that 
excitement,  of  permanent  benefit  to  those  who 
were  its  subjects.  Separate  from  domestic 
worship,  morning  and  evening,  Samuel  had  his 
prayer  meetings  with  the  servants  and  neigh- 
bours. It  was  agreed  one  night,  in  the  course 
of  one  of  his  visits,  between  the  servants  and 
himself,  that  they  should  have  a  prayer  meeting 
early  the  next  morning.  Samuel  was  up,  as 
usual,  by  four  o'clock.  On  descending  from  his 
chamber  to  the  kitchen,  he  found  the  windows 
closed,  and  no  appearance  of  wakefulness 
among  the  inmates  of  the  house.  He  returned 
to  his  chamber,  and  having  prayed  and  sung 
alone — his  morning  hymn  having  in  all  proba- 
bility reached  the  ears  of  the  sleepers — he  was 
soon  joined   by  the    group.     But  as  they  had 


284  THE   VILLAGE   BLACKSMITH. 

not  given  him  the  meeting  at  the  hour  and  place 
appointed,  he  insisted  on  their  stopping  with 
him  in  his  room.  This  was  not  very  well 
relished  by  some  of  the  servants,  who  knew 
that  Mrs.  C,  on  a  visit  from  London,  slept  in 
an  adjoining  chamber.  But  it  was  of  no  im- 
portance to  Samuel,  who  very  likely  thought 
that  the  good  lady  would  be  as  profitably  en- 
gaged with  them,  as  lying  in  bed,  at  an  houi 
when  the  birds  were  beginning  to  wake  into 
song,  and  heaven  was  alive  to  their  melody. 
Samuel  commenced  the  devotional  exercise  in 
good  earnest ;  they  prayed — they  sung — they 
met  in  band  ;  and  Mrs.  C. — for  sleep  was  in 
vain  where  there  was  only  a  partition  between 
the  rooms — was  compelled  to  keep  watch  with 
the  party,  and,  to  render  the  noise  at  all  sup- 
portable, had  to  join  in  the  devotions  of  the 
morning  as  she  lay  on  her  couch. 

The  evening  was  generally  occupied  in 
the  same  way.  On  one  occasion,  when  Mr. 
Thompson  and  Mr.  P.,  one  of  the  preachers, 
went  to  Hovvden,  to  evening  preaching,  Samuel 
was  left  behind.  On  their  return,  they  heard 
an  unusual  noise  in  the  house  ;  and  on  opening 
the  door,  they  found  the  servants  and  neighbours 
encircling  him  like  a  living  wall  of  fire— every 
one  breathing  forth  the  spirit  of  devotion — 
Samuel's  own  lips  touched  with  live  coals  from 
die  altar — in  all  the  glory  of  a  revival.  Mr.  P. 
was  for  dismissing  them,  but  Mr.  Thompson, 
who  knew  both  Samuel's  weaknesses  and  his 
excellences,   interposed  his  authority,  and  re- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  285 

quested  him  not  to  interfere,  without  at  the  same 
time  appearing  to  give  the  meeting  his  own  de- 
cided sanction.  One  man  was  so  powerfully 
affected,  that  several  persons  were  obliged  to 
hold  him  ;  and  an  old  man,  eighty  years  of  age, 
was  confirmed  in  his  religious  experience  and 
principles,  which  Samuel — not  having  had  a 
previous  knowledge  of  him — mistook  for  con- 
version. The  missionary  meeting  succeeded 
this  ;  and  Samuel,  being  called  upon  to  move  or 
second  a  resolution,  took  occasion  to  give  a  de- 
tailed account  of  the  principal  circumstances  of 
the  meeting  the  night  before.  Having,  how- 
ever, omitted  the  case  of  the  old  man,  and  be- 
ing reminded  of  it  by  Mr.  Thompson,  he  sud- 
denly turned  around  upon  him,  and  in  a  loud  and 
sharp  tone,  with  a  good  deal  of  fire  in  his  eye, 
which  showed  that  a  portion  of  his  own  spirit 
was  infused  into  it,  and  as  though  he  thought 
it  "well  to  be  angry"  for  the  Lord,  replied, 
"  Heh  !  and  you  were  none  so  well  pleased  with 
it  either" — exciting  the  smile  of  the  auditory. 
He  supported  what  he  deemed  opposition,  or 
indifierence,  in  a  revival,  with  but  an  ill  grace 
occasionally.  Mr.  P.,  who  could  not  endure 
the  noise  in  the  prayer  meeting,  was  obliged  (o 
take  up  his  cross  in  another  way.  He  had 
Samuel  for  his  bed-fellow  one  night ;  and  long 
before  "  tired  nature"  had  recruited  herself  with 
"  balmy  sleep,"  he  had  to  struggle  between 
slumber  and  song,  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morn- 
ing, till  his  mate,  whose  instrument  was  always 


286  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

in  tune,  had  carolled  a  hymn  composed  of  about 
ten  verses,  as  he  lay  by  his  side. 

II is  eccentricities  in  a  prayer  meeting  were 
not  always  to  be  endured  with  gravity.  While 
at  Mr.  Bell's,  of  Temple  Hurst,  a  man  was 
praying  very  devoutly  for  the  conversion  of  his 
wife.  Samuel  knew  that  there  were  other  pre- 
requisites besides  prayer ;  and  supposing  him 
to  be  a  little  defective  in  some  of  the  milder 
qualities  of  the  mind  at  home,  stopped  him,  and 
turning  around, as  he  elevated  himself, said, "Set 
a  trap  for  her,  man,  and  take  care  to  bait  it  with 
faith  and  love" — settling  instantly  down  to  his 
devotions  as  before,  adding  to  the  person,  whose 
voice  had  been  interrupted  for  the  moment, 
"  There,  you  may  go  on  again." 

Any  improper  feeling,  as  manifested  on  the 
platform,  toward  Mr.  Thompson,  was  quickly 
swallowed  up  in  the  finer  flow  of  divine  love, 
which  pervaded  his  whole  soul,  and  was  let  out 
on  the  most  insignificant  portions  of  the  unin- 
telligent creatures  of  God.  Speaking  to  Mr. 
Thompson  one  day,  on  the  subject  of  religious 
experience,  he  said,  "  I  had  a  field  of  wheat 
once  ;  the  crows  picked  it,  and  scarcely  left  a 
single  grain  ;  I  felt  something  rise  within  me, 
that  said,  'I  wish  I  had  you  all  in  a  tawd;'" 
then,  looking  at  his  friend,  he  continued,  as  if 
afraid  of  being  suspected  of  indulging  a  dispo- 
sition for  cruelty,  incompatible  with  what  he 
deemed  a  high  state  of  grace — "  But,  mind  ye, 
I  was  not  sanctified  then." 

While   in   this    neighbourhood,   he   solicited 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  287 

subscriptions  for  the  proposed  chapel  at  Goole 
— preached  to  every  society  in  the  circuit — as- 
sisted in  holding  four  missionary  meetings — 
and  was  frequently  entertained  by  respectable 
families,  who  were  not  in  membership  with  the 
Wesleyan  body.  The  latter  pressed  him  to 
repeat  his  visits. 

Samuel  took  a  particular  interest,  as  will  have 
been  perceived,  in  the  welfare  of  persons  of 
his  own  trade ;  and  an  instance  of  usefulness 
may  here  be  recorded,  as  given  by  a  black- 
smith in  a  religious  assembly,  when  Samuel 
was  remote  from  the  sound  of  his  voice.  "  I 
thank  God,"  said  he,  "  for  what  he  has  done  for 
my  soul.  I  lived  long  in  open  rebellion  against 
him — sinning  in  the  face  of  light  and  knowledge 
— and  training  up  my  children  for  the  devil. 
My  father,  who  was  pious,  reproved  me,  but  I 
regarded  him  not.  He  entered  my  house  once, 
while  I  was  playing  at  cards  with  my  children, 
and  spoke  to  me  on  its  impropriety.  My  pas- 
sion rose — I  swore — took  hold  of  him,  and 
turned  him  to  the  door.  Samuel  Hick  came 
the  next  day  to  our  place  to  preach ;  and  going 
around  to  invite  the  people,  he  came  and  pressed 
me  to  attend.  He  saw  I  was  throng ;  but  to 
accomplish  his  purpose,  said,  '  If  you  are  fast, 
I  will  help  you  ;'  nor  would  he  leave  me  till  I 
promised  to  attend  preaching.  Accordingly,  I 
went ;  and  the  Lord  met  me.  All  my  sins 
were  placed  before  me,  and  pressed  me  heavily. 
I  cried  aloud  for  mercy ;  Samuel  came  and 
prayed  with  me;  I  prayed  for  myself;  and  it 


288  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

was  not  long  before  the  Lord  blessed  me  with 
Christian  liberty.  He  filled  me  with  peace  and 
joy  through  believing,  and  has  preserved  me  in 
his  ways  to  the  present  time." 

He  left  Snaith  and  its  neighbourhood  about 
the  end  of  April ;  and  after  paying  one  of  his 
"angel  visits"  at  home,  visited  the  York,  Pock- 
lington,  and  Tadcaster  circuits  :  and  three  of 
the  places  in  which  he  was  unusually  favoured 
with  the  divine  blessing  were  Hessay,  Acomb, 
and  Moormonkton,  at  the  latter  of  which  he 
observed,  "  They  sang  like  angels."  When  at 
Hessay,  in  the  month  of  November,  having  been 
from  home  some  time,  he  found  himself,  as  usual, 
nearly  drained  of  cash  by  his  charities,  one 
of  the  last  of  which  consisted  in  contributing 
toward  the  purchase  of  a  pig  for  a  poor  woman, 
who  had  lost  one  by  some  accident  or  distem- 
per. "  She  was  sorely  distressed,"  said  he, 
"  for  she  had  fed  and  brought  it  up,  and  could 
not  buy  another  without  the  help  of  her  friends. 
She  was  a  good  Christian  ;  and  I  gave  her  the 
most  of  what  I  had  in  my  pocket."  But  his 
purse  was  soon  replenished.  His  son-in-law, 
Mr.  W.,  had  occasion  to  be  in  the  country  ;  and 
on  finding  that  he  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
York,  sought  him,  and  found  him  in  conversa- 
tion with  a  friend  in  the  street.  Laying  his 
hand  on  his  shoulder,  Samuel  turned  around, 
and  was  surprised  to  find  the  face  of  a  relation 
peering  in  his  own.  As  Mr.  W.  was  just  pass- 
ing through  the  city  by  coach  to  London,  he 
could  only  propose  a  few  brief  questions,  one 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  289 

of  which  was,  "  How  does  your  pocket  stand 
affected?"  to  which  Samuel  replied,  "  It  is  very 
low."  Mr.  W.  knew  the  generosity  of  his  na- 
ture ;  and  dipping  deep  into  his  own  pocket, 
gave  him  a  handful  of  silver.  Samuel  consi- 
dered this  a  providential  supply,  saying,  "  When 
I  was  nearly  done  with  my  money,  the  Lord 
sent  my  son  to  York,  who  gave  me  more.  I 
want  for  neither  meat,  money,  nor  clothes  ;  and 
my  peace  flows  like  a  river."  At  this  period  he 
often  preached  once  a  day  in  the  course  of  the 
week,  and  two  or  three  times  on  the  sabbath. 

He  had  been  employed  in  the  course  of  this 
year,  too,  in  soliciting  subscriptions  for  Rider 
chapel,  a  village  near  Cawood,  forming  part  of 
the  Selby  circuit.  The  summer,  the  autumn, 
and  the  beginning  of  1829,  were  spent  in  dif- 
ferent directions  ;  and  wherever  he  was  follow- 
ed, the  people  bore  a  lively  recollection  of  his 
visits.  Traces  of  him  were  invariably  found 
in  the  conversations  of  the  friends ;  his  works 
and  his  walk  left  as  distinct  an  impression  upon 
the  mind,  as  the  print  of  the  human  foot  to  the 
eye,  after  a  person  has  crossed  the  sand  of  the 
seashore. 

Samuel  was  in  York  in  the  latter  end  ot 
March,  1829;  and  the  friends  in  Easingwold 
wishing  him  to  pay  them  a  visit,  a  farmer  and 
his  good  wife,  both  of  whom  had  been  brought 
to  God  some  years  before,  through  his  instru- 
mentality, when  residing  in  the  York  circuit, 
were  deputed  to  give  him  the  meeting  in  the 
city,  and  to  convey  him  to  the  place.  He 
19 


290  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

arrived  at  Easingwold  on  the  4th  of  April,  and 
was  entertained  chiefly  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
A\  illiam  and  Miss  Mary  Dixon.  Being  well 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Roadhouse,  he  deposited 
with  her  two  pounds,  saying  that  he  was  afraid 
of  losing  it ;  adding,  with  a  smile,  "  I  have 
cheated  Matty  out  of  this."  Mr.  R.  had  been 
his  banker  in  the  Snaith  circuit,  but  having 
dealt  the  separate  portions  out  to  him  with  par- 
simony, from  an  impression  that  he  gave  indis- 
criminately, he  thus  made  a  change.  His  libe- 
rality, however,  was  again  put  under  arrest  ; 
and  when  he  was  prevented  from  giving  the 
whole  away,  he  went  among  the  more  opulent 
and  begged  that  he  might  be  made  their  almo- 
ner. One  instance  of  unnecessary,  though  not 
inconsiderate  bounty,  occurred  while  here.  He 
stepped  into  the  house  of  a  barber,  and  request- 
ed to  be  shaved.  Inquiring  of  the  man  whether 
he  had  any  other  means  of  supporting  his  fam- 
ily, and  being  answered  in  the  negative,  Sam- 
uel put  a  shilling  into  his  hand.  This  produced 
a  grateful  feeling,  and  the  man,  in  Samuel's 
estimation,  was  prepared  for  any  thing  that 
might  follow.  He  talked  to  him  on  the  subject 
of  religion,  and  then  proposed  prayer.  The 
different  members  of  the  family  were  speedily 
on  their  knees,  and  the  worshipping  group  v  ere 
open  for  the  inspection  of  the  next  custi  rr.er 
that  might  turn  in  for  the  same  operation  that 
had  been  performed1  upon  the  officiating  p  jest. 
A  thousand  persons  might  be  found  to  pan  with 
their  money,  in  the  same   way,  bu    a  thousand 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  291 

persons  of  the  same  piety  might  be  found,  who, 
in  the  same  place,  and  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, could  not  have  brought  themselves  to 
act  thus,  and  might  be  justified  in  such  conduct 
•without  being  disposed  to  enter  a  sentence  of 
condemnation  against  Samuel. 

Of  the  affection  and  attention  of  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Roadhouse  and  Garbutt,  he  spoke  in 
grateful  terms  ;  and  besides  preaching,  attended, 
in  connection  with  them,  several  missionary 
meetings.  Descanting  on  a  part  of  his  labours, 
he  remarked  in  his  own  peculiar  way,  "  I 
preached  last  night  (April  21th,  on  the  other 
side  of  Hambleton  Hills  ;  and  the  Lord,  and 
Mr.  Roadhouse,  and  me,  held  a  missionary 
meeting ;"  denoting  that  the  Divine  Being  was 
as  signally  present  in  the  influence  of  his  Spirit 
on  the  hearts  of  the  people — and  without  whose 
presence  all  missionary  meetings  are  vain  to 
the  persons  assembled — as  though  he  had  been 
rendered  visible  to  the  eye.  "  It  is  a  mount- 
ainous country,"  continued  he,  "  but  very  plea- 
sant. The  people  came  from  all  quarters — 
from  hill  and  dale  :  the  chapel  was  crowded, 
and  we  had  a  good  time.  I  never  saw  friends 
more  kind."  Here,  too,  as  at  Snaith,  in  the  bo- 
som of  the  mountains,  he  realized  the  truth  of 
the  proverb  of  the  wise  man,  "  As  iron  sharp- 
eneth  iron,  so  a  man  sharpeneth  the  counte- 
nance of  his  friend."  Early  recollections — 
such  as  extended  to  the  days  of  childhood — 
were  revived.  One  person,  in  particular,  he 
noticed  ;  and  his  joy  was  full,  because  of  his 


292  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

meeting  her  on  Christian  ground.  "  I  have 
found  some  of  my  own  country  friends  here  ; 
one  of  them,  a  woman,  born  at  Aberford.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Barker ;  she  married  Mr. 
Wilkinson's  steward,  who  is  now  dead.  Her 
eldest  son  and  daughter  have  died  very  happy  ; 
and  if  I  live  till  next  week,  I  shall  have  to 
preach  her  funeral  sermon."  He  then  spoke  of 
the  joy  he  experienced  :  further  stating  his  be- 
lief that  the  Lord  had  "  as  surely  sent"  him 
"  into  the  circuit,  as  he  sent  Jonah  to  preach  to 
the  Ninevites.  He  waters  my  soul  with  the 
dews  of  heaven." 

Ilawnley  was  another  of  the  places  which 
Samuel  visited,  where  he  rendered  himself 
amusingly  popular  by  waiting  upon  the  clergy- 
man of  the  parish,  requesting  him  to  "  give 
them  a  speech  at  the  missionary  meeting." 
The  reverend  gentleman  declining,  Samuel 
tiied  him  on  another  point. 

Samuel.  "  Will  you  please  then,  sir,  to  give  us 
a  pound  for  the  missions  ?" 

Clergyman.  "  That  is  too  much,  and  I  have 
no  silver  upon  me  ;  but  if  you  will  give  me  sil- 
ver for  a  note,  I  will  give  you  half  a  crown." 

Sam.  "  Nay,  give  the  note,  sir  ;  it  is  a  noble 
cause." 

Samuel's  companion,  having  a  little  more 
delicacy  of  feeling  about  him  than  himself,  and 
perceiving  that  the  pound  was  more  than  it  was 
prudent  to  urge,  offered,  in  order  to  relieve  the 
clergyman  from  his  importunity,  to   give   him 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  293 

twenty  shillings  in  silver.  Samuel  immediate- 
ly, in  an  altered  tone,  said, 

"  Give  the  gentleman  five  shillings." 

Cler.  "  That  will  not  do." 

Sam.  "  Ten  then,  sir." 

Cler.  "  I  will  give  you  half  a  crown." 

Sam.  "  Not  less  than  five  shillings,  if  you 
please,  sir." 

The  full  change  was  given,  and  an  apology 
was  offered  for  Samuel,  for  whom  it  was  fortu- 
nate an  apologist,  was  at  hand.  Samuel,  on  the 
other  hand,  dropped  upon  his  knees  in  the  room 
to  improve  the  occasion,  and  prayed  devoutly 
and  fervently  for  the  divine  blessing  upon  the 
clergyman.  Whether  as  a  rebuke,  by  way  of 
intimating  that  instruction  was  necessary,  or  as 
a  token  of  respect — which  at  least  was  singular 
— the  reverend  gentleman  sent  one  of  his  writ- 
ten sermons  in  the  evening,  accompanied  with 
his  regards,  to  Samuel's  companion. 

Without  placing  the  least  depcndance  upon 
works,  he  toiled  as  though  heaven  were  alone 
to  be  won  by  them.  "  If  I  had  ten  thousand 
bodies  and  souls,"  said  he,  "  they  should  all  be 
spent  in  the  service  of  God."  At  Carlton, 
Sheriff  Hutton,  and  several  other  places,  the 
word  of  exhortation  was  made  a  blessing  to  the 
people.  His  usefulness  and  popularity  appear- 
ed to  advance  with  his  age.  Persons  who  had 
heard  of  him  were  prompted  by  curiosity  to 
attend  his  public  addresses  ;  and  those  who  had 
benefited  by  them  followed  him  from  place  to 
place  :  so  that  with  the  curious,  the  profited, 


294  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

and  the  stated  hearers,  the  chapels  were  gene- 
rally crowded.  In  addition  to  evening  preach- 
ing, travelling,  and  visiting  the  sick,  he  attend- 
ed three  missionary  meetings  in  one  week — 
moving  about  in  the  70th  year  of  his  age  with 
the  apparent  vigour  of  youth,  and  with  the  fire 
of  a  new  convert.  At  one  of  those  meetings 
he  met  with  the  Rev.  G.  Marsden,  from  Bolton, 
who  pressed  him  to  take  another  journey  into 
Lancashire,  which  he  resolved  to  perform  in 
the  course  of  the  year,  should  he  be  favoured 
with  health  and  opportunity.  He  exulted,  too, 
in  the  prospect  of  meeting  with  his  friend  Mr. 
Dawson,  at  a  missionary  meeting  in  the  month 
of  May.  That  month  arrived  ;  but  the  14th 
was  a  day  to  be  remembered  by  Samuel  and  his 
friends.  He  was  on  his  way  from  Easingwold 
to  Hemsley  Black  Moor,  to  attend  a  missionary 
meeting.  When  about  three  miles  from  Hems- 
ley,  his  horse  took  fright  at  a  chaise,  upon 
which  some  white  bags  were  suspended,  en- 
closing some  fighting  cocks,  wheeled  around, 
and  he  fell  off.  "  Though  no  bones,"  says  Mr. 
Dawson,  "  were  either  broken  or  dislocated,  yet 
the  shock  was  felt  through  his  whole  frame. 
He  nevertheless  attended  the  meeting  ;  but  soon 
found  it  necessary  to  leave,  when  he  was  taken 
to  the  house  of  a  friend."  The  scene  which 
followed  would  form  a  subject  as  suitable  for 
the  pencil  of  Wilkie  as  for  the  pen  of  a  divine. 
Bleeding  being  deemed  necessary,  a  medical 
gentleman  was  sent  for  ;  but  in  consequence  of 
absence,  his  place  was  supplied  by  one  of  his 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  295 

pupils.  On  his  appearance,  Samuel  threw  off 
liis  coat,  and  turned  up  his  shirt  sleeve,  as  if 
about  to  enter  on  the  business  of  the  smithy. 
Had  the  arm  been  composed  of  wood,  or  be- 
longed to  some  other  person,  he  could  not  have 
manifested  greater  self-possession,  promptitude, 
and  apparent  want  of  feeling.  Stretching  it 
out — his  hand  meanwhile  grasping  the  handle 
of  a  long  brush,  and  pointing  to  the  vein, 
"  There,  my  lad,"  said  he,  "  strike  there  ;"  hav- 
ing the  phleme  and  the  quadruped  present  in 
his  mind,  rather  than  the  lancet  and  the  human 
being.  The  youth,  under  the  impression  of 
fear,  pricked  the  vein,  but  no  blood  appeared. 
"  Try  again,"  said  Samuel.  The  experiment 
was  again  fruitlessly  made.  He  instantly 
turned  up  the  sleeve  of  the  other  arm,  as  if  go- 
ing to  another  job,  or  as  if  he  intended  to  give 
additional  strength  to  one  at  which  he  had  just 
failed,  and  determinately  pointing  to  the  spot, 
said,  "  Try  here,  lad  ;  strike  here,  and  see  if 
thou  canst  get  any  thing."  This  experiment 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  drops,  was  as  inef- 
fectual as  those  that  preceded.  The  youth  was 
overcome  with  fear,  and  withdrew.  Fortunate- 
ly for  Samuel,  the  surgeon  himself  came,  about 
an  hour  afterward,  and  bled  him  copiously, 
after  which  he  was  placed  in  a  bed.  While 
bleeding,  he  said,  "  Glory  be  to  God!  if  I  die 
I'll  get  the  sooner  to  heaven."  In  the  course 
of  the  same  evening,  while  Mr.  Dawson  was 
preaching,  the  vein  was  opened  by  some  acci- 
dent, when  Mrs.  Bentlcy,  who  was  at  chapel, 


296  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

and  at  whose  house  he  lodged,  was  sent  for, 
and  through  her  kind  attentions,  aid  was  pro- 
cured, and  the  arm  again  bandaged.  Samuel 
thought  his  work  was  done,  and  said  to  the 
friends  around  him,  in  a  tone  of  holy  triumph, 
"  I  am  bown  home  ; — glory  be  to  God!  I  am 
bown  home."  He  expressed  a  wish  to  see  Mr. 
Dawson  again,  who  had  called  upon  him  before, 
and  who  no  sooner  closed  the  service  in  the 
evening,  than  he  made  all  possible  speed  to  his 
lodging.  On  entering  the  room,  Samuel  accost- 
ed him,  with  a  full  How  of  spirit  and  of  tears, 
"I  am  boron  home,  barn!  Glory  be  to  God,  I 
am  very  happy !  I  should  have  bled  to  death, 
barn,  but  I  happened  to  awaken."  He  next 
proceeded,  "  I  want  my  will  made,  and  you 
must  make  it."  Mr.  D.,  not  deeming  him  so 
near  his  exit  as  he  imagined,  and  adapting  his 
language  and  imagery  to  Samuel's  thinkings  and 
knowledge  of  words,  answered,  "  Well,  Sammy, 
if  it  is  to  be  so,  you  are  a  brown  shelter ;"  refer- 
ring by  that,  as  Samuel  well  knew,  to  the  ripe 
fruit — brown,  and  ready  to  drop  from  the  tree, 
and  which,  when  taken  into  the  hand,  falls  out 
of  the  husk.  He  was  acquainted  with  Samuel's 
character,  and  beheld  him  as  ripe  and  ready  for 
a  blessed  immortality.  "  Yes,"  replied  Samuel, 
"  I  am  bown  to  glory."  The  will  was  drawn 
up  according  to  the  best  directions  he  was  able 
to  give  ;  but  as  Martha  was  both  cashier  and 
accountant,  he  knew  very  little  of  his  own  af- 
fairs, and  of  course  found  it  necessary  after- 
ward to  have  it  altered. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  297 

He  met  with  his  accident  on  the  Thursday, 
and  on  the  Saturday  was  so  far  restored  as  to 
be  able  to  return  to  Easingwold  in  a  gig.  The 
friends  at  Easingwold,  knowing  that  the  begin- 
ning of  the  week  was  the  period  fixed  for  his 
return  to  Micklefield,  proposed  that  he  should 
preach  to  them  on  the  Sunday — accompanying 
the  proposal  with  a  hope  that  it  would  not  seri- 
ously injure  him,  while  employing  every  argu- 
ment to  accomplish  their  wishes,  at  the  risk  of 
his  health  and  life.*     He  received  the  proposi- 


*  This,  to  say  the  least,  was  inconsiderate,  being  only  the 
day  after  he  had  been  shaken  a  good  deal  by  his  removal  ftom 
Hcmsley  ;  and  were  it  not  for  others  than  the  friends  at  Eas- 
ingwold— to  whom  the  following  remarks  are  not  intended 
to  apply  beyond  the  point  of  inconsideration  just  noticed — 
farther  observations  would  have  been  withheld.  What  be- 
tween conscience  on  the  part  of  the  preachers,  and  thoughtless 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  people — a  ivillingness  to  expend  the 
utmost  of  their  strength  in  the  cause  of  God  in  the  one. 
and  anxiety  for  them  to  be  useful,  founded  on  the  value  of 
immortal  souls,  in  the  other,  the  men  very  often  become  mar 
tyrs  in  the  work.  The  people  are  especially  culpable  in 
urging  a  willing  servant  of  God  to  work,  in  cases  of  great  de 
bility;  and  instances  have  been  known,  when,  instead  of 
preventing  men  from  running  the  most  imminent  danger  of 
relapse,  or  something  worse,  those  very  men  have  been  tor- 
tured in  every  possible  way  by  reasons  why  the  pulpit  should 
be  supplied  ; — the  tormentors  themselves  sitting  like  philoso- 
phers all  the  time,  as  if  coolly  making  experiments  upon  hu- 
man nature,  to  see  the  utmost  point  to  which  it  would  go, 
then  returning  with  the  languishing  sufferer,  administering 
their  hopes,  like  cordials,  that — after  they  have  wrung  from 
him  the  last  mite  of  physical  strength,  he  will  be  no  worse] 
but  improved — by  thus  throwing  the  fever  into  liis  system, 
with  a  night's  sound  repose.  Such  conduct,  if  practised  in 
civil  life,  would  be  viewed  in  no  other  light  than  as  the  re- 
sult of  mere  brutal  feeling.  The  only  difference  between  an 
ungodly  man  overworking  his  servants,  like  a  set  of  West  In- 
dian slaves,  and  persons  who  are  criminal  in  the  case  in 


298  THE    VILLAGE    HLACKSMITH. 

tion  with  his  wonted  cheerfulness — preached 
on  the  sabbath  evening — assisted  in  conducting 
a  prayer  meeting  on  the  Monday  evening — and 
proceeded  to  York  in  a  gig  on  the  Tuesday 
morning.  Reduced  as  he  was  in  his  bodily 
strength,  such  was  the  unconquerable  nature  of 
the  spirit  he  possessed,  aided  by  the  prospects 
of  a  better  world,  that  he  appeared  more  like  a 
person  who  had  just  risen  from  slight  indispo- 
sition, rather  than  as  having  walked  a  few  paces 
back  into  life  again  from  the  verge  of  the 
grave. 

He  complained  of  great  internal  pain  at  first ; 
and  although  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  raise  him 
again  from  his  couch,  and  permit  him  to  engage 
in  his  usual  labour  of  love,  he  was  more  sus- 

hand — and  to  no  other  the  subject  can  be  applied — is,  that  the 
former  are  driven,  and  the  latter  are  dogqed  to  it,  through  in- 
discreet zeal — incorrect  notions  of  duty — sympathy  for  the 
multitude,  with  a  kind  of  callous  feeling  toward  the  indivi- 
dual. Persons  should  be  exceedingly  careful  not  even  to  lay 
temptations  in  the  way  of  zealous,  but  afflicted  men,  to  take 
too  early  the  exercise  of  the  pulpit.  A  man  of  God  has  that 
within  him  which  will  not  allow  him  to  remain  inactive 
longer  than  it  is  necessary.  In  such  cases,  the  people  should 
stand  between  the  couch  and  the  pulpit,  and  employ  [he  cheek 
rather  than  the  incentive.  It  is  a  hard  case,  when  a  man  is 
under  the  necessity  of  killing  himself  to  prove  that  he  is 
poorly  :  and  the  worst  is,  that  there  is  neither  any  conscinice 
made  o(  the  matter,  on  the  part  of  these  overworkers,  nor  any 
tribunal  at  which  to  try  them  for  their  conduct.  They  go 
free,  though  the  man  of  God  may  lose  his  life.  He  is  afraid 
of  their uncandid  reflection*,  if  he  do  not  work  ;  though  with- 
out reasonable  and  serious  reflection  themselves;  and  to 
crown  the  whole,  as  it  is  done  under  the  guise,  so  it  is  laid  to 
the  charge, of  Christianity.  A  man  may, perchance,  survive 
it,  but  no  thanks  to  the  task-masters  lor  the  pain  imparted, 
any  more  than  for  the  life  next  to  miraculously  preserved. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  299 

ceptible  of  cold,  while  his  friends  perceived  an 
evident  decay  both  of  memory  and  of  corporeal 
strength. 

Having  preached  in  his  own  neighbourhood  a 
short  time,  he  left  home  for  Lancashire  in  the 
early  part  of  July.  His  route  appears  to  have 
been  the  following.  He  remained  two  days  at 
Swillington  Bridge,  in  consequence  of  the  rain, 
and  spoke  of  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Gilgras. 
From  thence  he  proceeded  to  Wakefield,  where 
he  preached,  and  at  which  place  he  had  often 
experienced  the  kindness  of  S.  Stocks,  Esq., 
and  other  friends.  Barnsley  was  his  next  place, 
prior  to  reaching  which,  he  spent  two  days  with 
Mr.  Myers,  who  quaintly  told  him  he  was  not 
to  think  of  "  making  a  road  over  his  house." 
When  he  arrived  at  Barnsley,  the  friends  pre- 
vailed upon  him  to  remain  until  their  missionary 
meeting.  While  in  that  neighbourhood,  he 
preached  at  Burton  and  Cudworth.  This  was 
no  new  ground  of  labour  to  him ;  and  at  the 
latter  place,  particularly,  he  was  rendered  ex- 
tremely serviceable  to  Mr.  G.,  who  afterward 
became  a  useful  local  preacher,  but  was  in  a 
state  of  mind  verging  toward  despair,  when 
met  by  Samuel.  They  slept  in  the  same  room, 
and  every  groan  fetched  up  from  the  soul  of  the 
one  was  the  signal  for  prayer  to  the  other ;  nor 
was  it  an  ejaculation  with  Samuel,  uttered  in  a 
state  of  repose  upon  the  pillow,  which  cost  him 
nothing;  for  he  rose  again  and  again,  and 
wrestled  with  God,  like  Jacob,  both  in  the  dark 
and  at  daybreak.       He  gave  himself  no  rest 


300      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

till  rest  was  found  by  him  who  sought  it.  He 
had  here  an  excellent  coadjutor  in  the  general 
work,  in  William  Smith — a  man  of  a  very  dif- 
ferently constructed  mind,  but  in  no  respect  his 
inferior  for  simplicity,  zeal,  and  disinterested- 
ness. 

He  remained  some  time  also  at  the  house  of 
John  Thorneley,  Esq.,  Dodworth  Green,  near 
Barnsley,  and  was  the  minister  of  mercy  to  a 
number  of  poor  families  in  the  village  of  Dod- 
worth. Here,  as  in  other  places,  in  seasons  of 
distress,  his  funds,  though  often  replenished  by 
Mr.  T.  and  others,  were  as  often  drained  of  the 
last  mite.  Cases  of  distress  multiplying  upon 
him,  as  is  usual  with  those  who  take  the  trouble 
to  seek  after  them,  and  having  received  supplies 
from  his  own  friends,  he  inquired,  as  he  had 
done  at  Burnley  on  a  former  occasion,  whether 
there  were  not  some  opulent  characters  in  the 
neighbourhood,  who  might  be  willing  to  contri- 
bute of  their  abundance  toward  the  relief  of  the 
poor.  He  was  told  of  one  gentleman,  by  his 
friend,  William  Rhodes,  but  received  only  such 
hopes  of  success  as  unbelief  could  afford. 
Faith,  in  Samuel,  could  perceive  no  obstacles  ; 
he  proceeded,  therefore,  to  Mr.  C.'s  residence, 
and  found  him  ;  and  knowing  less  of  circumlo- 
cution than  the  legal  gentleman  himself,  enter- 
ed directly  upon  the  case.  Mr.  C,  either  to 
get  rid  of  him,  or  being  touched  in  a  way  which 
was  as  rare  to  himself  as  it  was  astonishing  to 
others,  took  from  his  pocket  a  handful  of  silver, 
and  gave  it — feeling  like  a  person,  on  Samuel's 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  301 

departure,  who,  in  an  unguarded  moment,  had 
suffered  himself  to  be  imposed  upon,  and  won- 
dering at  his  folly  for  having  been  so  far  over- 
seen on  the  occasion.  But  the  truth  is,  there 
was  so  much  of  God,  of  justice,  of  humanity, 
and  of  mercy,  in  all  Samuel's  applications,  that 
they  carried  with  them  the  authority  of  a  com- 
mand, and  became  unaccountably  irresistible 
to  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  made. 

While  he  was  at  Dodworth  Green,  his  re- 
spected friend,  Edward  Brooke,  Esq.,  of  Hoy- 
hmd  Swaine,  sent  his  servant  and  gig  for  him. 
On  seeing  the  conveyance,  the  tear  started  into 
his  eye,  and  turning  to  Mrs.  Thorneley,*  he 
falteringly  observed,  (i  He  will  kill  me."  The 
zeal  of  Mr.  B.  was  too  much  for  Samuel's 
years ;  and  such  an  expression,  from  such  a 
man — one  who  counted  not  his  life  dear  to  him 
in  the  cause  of  God — must  have  been  wrung 
from  him  in  the  agonizing  reflection  of  past  suf- 
fering. Of  this,  however,  Mr.  B.  was  not 
aware  ;  and  with  his  wonted  kindness  furnished 
him  with  a  new  suit  of  clothes.  After  labour- 
ing here  a  few  weeks,  he  proceeded  to  Bolton, 
where  he  was  on  the  10th  of  August ;  and  had 


*  This  excellent  lady,  who  knew  how  to  estimate  Sam- 
uel's piety  and  labours,  has  since  been  called  to  her  eternal 
reward.  The  writer  does  not  proceed  beyond  his  personal 
knowledge  when  he  states,  that  Mrs.  T.  was  modest — retired 
—  intelligent — liberal  to  the  poor— hospitable,  without  parade 
— a  perlect  model  of  domestic  order  and  happiness,  without 
bustle — a  great  sufferer,  but  with  the  invincible  patience  and 
fortitude  of  a  martyr — crowning  the  whole  with  the  most 
exalted  Christian  spirit  and  demeanour. 


302  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

it  not  been  for  this  Lancashire  tour,  he  would 
have  proceeded  into  Derbyshire,  for  which  Mr. 
Thorneley  had  made  every  preparation,  in  order 
that  he  might  be  rendered  beneficial  to  the  men 
employed  in  working  his  coal  mines. 

Not  content  with  preaching  in  the  chapels, 
he  took  his  stand  in  the  streets,  and  proclaimed 
the  Saviour  of  sinners  to  the  multitude.  Tay- 
lor and  Carlile  had  just  been  there,  and  had 
engaged  the  attention  of  a  few  of  "the  baser 
sort,"  who  had  become  venders  of  their  blas- 
phemy. One  of  these  attacked  Samuel  while 
he  was  addressing  the  people  in  the  street ;  and 
Samuel,  possessing  greater  confidence  in  the 
truth  of  God  than  ability  to  defend  it,  impru- 
dently committed  himself,  by  telling  the  man, 
that  if  he  would  suffer  him  to  proceed  without 
interruption  to  the  close  of  the  service,  he 
would  go  into  any  private  house  with  him,  or 
with  any  number  of  the  same  persuasion,  if 
there  were  a  hundred  of  them,  and  he  would 
take  them  one  by  one  and  conquer  them.  But 
the  man  was  desirous  of  public  conquest ;  and 
in  the  lowest  slang  of  the  two  infidel  missiona- 
ries, so  famous  for  stooping  and  raking  up  from 
the  very  depths  of  the  common  sewers  of  infi- 
delity all  the  filth  of  which  a  depraved  heart  is 
capable  of  conceiving,  told  Samuel  that  the 
Saviour  he  preached  was  a  thief — that  he  could 
prove  from  the  Bible  itself  he  stole  an  ass  from 
one  person,  and  corn  out  of  the  field  of  an- 
other. Samuel  immediately  rebutted  the  charge, 
by  insisting,  that,  as  the  Creator  of  all  tUuif», 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  303 

the  earth,  the  corn,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thou- 
sand hills,  were  his  ;  that  he  only  laid  claim  to 
his  own  property.  This  was  as  good  a  reply- 
as  the  low,  ignorant  attack  merited.  The  man 
was  prevented  from  making  farther  disturbance, 
and  Samuel  was  dissuaded  from  giving  him  the 
meeting.  It  was  a  heavy  affliction,  however,  to 
his  mind.  He  returned  repeatedly  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  felt  all  his  sensibilities  in  operation 
for  the  honour  of  his  Saviour.  "  I  have  heard 
of  my  dear  Lord,"  said  he  to  some  of  the 
friends,  in  his  conversation  afterward,  "being 
called  a  wine-bibber,  a  gluttonous  man,  and  a 
fiiend  to  publicans  and  sinners ;  but  I  never 
heard  him  called  a  thief  and  a  robber  before, 
though  crucified  between  two."  Then  he  would 
sob  and  weep  over  the  charge,  as  though  he 
wished  to  sympathize  with  his  Divine  Master, 
while  lying,  as  he  supposed,  under  this  odium.* 

*  Messrs.  Taylor  and  Carlile  were  itinerating  the  kingdom 
at  this  time,  and  in  the  true  spirit  of  infidel  philanthropy, 
after  having  charged  the  ministers  of  Christianity  with  mak- 
ing a  gain  of  godliness,  issued  their  tickets  and  their  circu- 
lars to  try  what  they  themselves  could  accumulate  in  the  way 
of  business.  The  originals,  which  are  in  the  writer's  pos- 
session, are  curiosities.  The  ticket  specifies,  that,  "The 
Rev.  Robert  Taylor,  B.  A.,  will  deliver  an  Oration  this 
evening,  July  6th,  at  half  past  seven,  at  the  Manor  Court 
Room,  Brov»n-st.,  Manchester.  Admission  to  the  Boxes,  3s. 
— to  the  Area  of  the  Room,  2s."  So  much  for  the  modest 
market-price  of  infidel  commodities  to  moneyed  characters  : 
and  as  there  were  no  free  seats,  their  system  of  benevolence 
does  not,  of  course,  reach  the  case  of  the  poor.  It  Chris 
tian  ministers  were  to  admit  their  auditors  into  their  places 
of  public  instruction  at  2s.  and  3s.  per  head,  some  of  them 
would  make  an  excellent  concern  of  their  "orations." 
Prior  to  the  tickets  being  offered  for  sale,  the  different 


304  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

While  at  Bolton,  he  received  a  letter  from 
Grassington,  near  Skipton,  stating  that  a  niece 
of  his  was  very  ill — not  likely  to  recover — and 
wished  to  see  him.     He  no  sooner  was  inforin- 

ministers  of  religion  were  furnished  with  the  circular  refer- 
red to,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy: — 

"  The  Rev.  Robert  Taylor.  A.  B.,  of  Carey-street,  Lin- 
coln's Inn,  and  Mr.  Richard  Carlile,of  Fleet-street,  London, 

present  their  compliments,  as   infidel  missionaries,  to , 

and  most  respectfully  and  earnestly  invite  discussion  on  the 
merits  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  they  argumenlativelj 
challenge,  in  confidence  of  their  competency  to  prove  that 
such  a  person  as  Jesus  Christ,  alleged  to  have  been  of  Naz- 
areth, never  existed;  and  that  the  Christian  religion  had  no 
such  origin  as  has  been  pretended;  neither  is  it  in  any  way 
beneficial  to  mankind:  but  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  an 
emanation  from  the  ancient  pagan  religion.  The  researches 
of  the  Rev.  Robert  Taylor  on  this  subject  are  imbodied  in 
his  newly  published  work,  'The  Diegesis,'  in  which  may  be 
found  the  routine  of  their  argument.  They  also  impugn  the 
honesty  of  a  continued  preaching,  while  discussion  is  chal- 
lenged on  the  whole  merits  of  the  Christian  religion." 

It  is  difficult  to  command  sufficient  muscle  for  gravity,  in 
the  perusal  of  such  a  document. 

First:  Robert  Taylor  comes  forward  as  the  avowed  ene- 
my of  Christianity  ;  and  yet,  without  even  a  vestige  of  that 
Christianity,  continues  to  cling  with  the  tenacity  of  life  to 
its  honours,  by  still  retaining  the  title  of  Reverend,  which  is 
one  of  the  distinguishing  honours  of  its  ministers,  and 
which  he  himself  would  never  have  thought  of  assuming, 
had  it  not  been  for  his  original  connection  with  the  church 
that  conferred  it,  as  is  evident  from  its  being  withheld  from 
his  compeer,  Richard  Carlile,  who  is  honoured  with  the  less 
dignified  title  of  Master; — thus  contemning  that  by  which 
he  is  still  anxious  to  be  exalted  ; — furnishing  another  exem- 
plification of  the  falile  of  the  proud  jackdaw,  which,  not  be* 
i  i  i  L-r  satisfied  with  the  plumage  with  winch  nature  had  favour- 
id  i' ,  decorated  itself  w  nh  a  few  peacock's  feathers  ; — slip- 
pniL'  off  with  a  |i;ur  of  stilts—  as  confident  ol  his  own  little- 
ness, and  mounting  them  on  evi  rj  convenient  occasion. 

Secondly:  His  title  of  A.  H,  still  connected  with  his  ones 
Christian  profession,  is  one  to  which  no  one  will  dispute  his 
right — showing  his  progress  in  leading — having  reached  thr 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  305 

ed  of  this,  than  he  took  the  coach  for  Skipton. 
The  day  was  exceedingly  wet;  and  he  being 
on  the  outside,  his  clothes  were  drenched  with 
rain.     He  arrived  a  few  days  before  his  niece 

first  two  tetters  of  the  English  alphabet; — halting  without 
being  able  to  arrive  at  D.  This  may  be  deemed  sheer  pueril- 
ity. It  is  ;  nor  is  any  thimr  else  intended  :  but  then  the  wri- 
ter is  led  to  it  from  a  perusal  of  the  "circular,"  which 
speaks  of  the  astonishing  '■  researches"  of  the  Reverend  gen- 
tleman. And  to  what  do  they  amount?  To  the  amazing 
fastness  of — nothing.    For, 

Thirdly:  lie  undertakes  "to  prove"  and  that  too  "argu- 
mcntativcly,"  that  "such  a  person  as  Jesus  Christ  never  ex- 
isted ;" — that  is,  in  plain  language,  to  prove  a  negative.  This 
is  beating  the  air  with  a  vengeance  ;  and  to  say  the  least,  he 
will  certamly  have  something  to  do,  in  prosecuting  the  task 
of  proving  nothing. 

To  take  the  gentleman,  however,  on  his  own  ground  of 
nothingness,  wc  ask — and  ask  seriously — if  Christianity  has 
not  been  "anyway  beneficial  to  mankind,"  in  what  solitary 
instance  has  infidelity  been  of  service  to  the  human  species? 
Robert  Taylor  may  be  toid  of  one  "  way" — and  one  will  be  as 
trood  as  a  thousand  for  the  writer's  purpose — in  which  Chris- 
i  unity,  in  its  effects  upon  the  human  heart,  has  benefited 
man  by  man;  and  in  that  "way"  infidelity  has  something  not 
only  to  do,  but  to  learn; — it  is  in  the  way  of  mercy.  This 
is  one  grand  objection  which  every  feeling  heart  must  have 
to  infidelity — not  in  its  professions,  for  in  these  it  is  opulent, 
bu>  in  its  cold-blooded  rai/ific.v.  As  infidel  missionaries  can 
prove  7icgatives,  they  cannot  with  any  grace  object  to  their 
assertion:  and  there  is  one  thing  which  may  be  averred — that 
infidelity  never  gave  birth  to  a  single  benevolent  institution  since 
God  made  the  world,  or  mail  fill  from  his  steadfastness.  No  : 
they  are  Christians  alone  who  plume  the  wings  of  genuine 
'JHaritv.  Among  infidels,  with  all  their  boasted  benevo 
lence,  the  sacred  form  of  charity  appears  sickly  and  inactive 
— the  pulse  at  her  heart  beats  languidly — no  expression 
flashes  from  her  eye — and  her  pale  lip  attests  that  no  seraph 
has  ever  touched  it  with  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar. 
When,  in  pursuance  of  Mr.  Rose's  Bill,  authentic  informa- 
tion was  for  the  first  time  in  any  country  laid  before  the  pub 
lie,  of  the  number  of  paupers,  and  of  the  amount  of  the 
poor  rates,  it  appeared  that  upward  of  700,000  persons  vieit 

'20 


300  THE    VILLAGE    BLA0K8MITH. 

died,  bin  received  hia  own  death-stroke  by  the 
journey  ;  for  he  caught  cold,  which  settled  upon 
his  lungs,  and  from  which  he  never  fully  reco- 
vered. In  a  letter  to  his  partner,  dated  Sep- 
tember 10th,  he  remarked,  "I  have  been  very 
ill  since  I  came  here.  I  was  taken  with  a  stop- 
page in  my  breathing  about  midnight.  If  I  had 
not  got  bled,  I  believe  I  should  not  have  been 
writing  to  you  just  now  ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
doctor  bled  me,  I  found  instant  relief.  I  was 
very  happy,  and  found  that  God  was  the  God 
of  my  salvation."     In  speaking  of   his  niece, 

enrolled  in  Benefit  Societies.  The  advantage  of  even  these 
societies  might  be  fairly  inferred  from  their  antiquity.  They 
are  known  to  have  existed  in  some  of  the  ancient  Greek  re- 
publics; traces  of  them  are  found  among  our  Anglo-Saxon 
ancestors  ;  and  what,  is  still  more  remarkable,  institutions 
have  been  discovered  of  a  similar  purport  in  some  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands,  among  a  people  still  barbarous  enough  to 
delight  in  devouring  the  flesh  of  their  enemies.  But  are 
these  institutions  shoots  from  the  stock  of  infidelity  ?  Or  it 
they  were,  do  they  deserve  the  epiihet  benevolent  at 
tached  to  them?  By  no  means;  for  no  one  receives  help 
from  these  but  the  person,  who,  by  his  subscriptions,  first 
helps  them.  It  has  been,  therefore, and  may  still  be  affirmed 
— That  Christia.nity  alone  is  a  system  of  humanity, 
■which  leads  to  acts  of  kindness  and  benevolence.  This  is  one 
"way"  in  which  it  lias  been  useful  to  the  indigent  part  of 
mankind  ;  and  in  this  "  way"  infidelity  has  been  worse  than 
a  blank  in  God's  creation. 

N.  B.  It  would  seem  that  Messrs.  Taylor  and  Carlile  had 
set  too  high  a  value  on  the  article  of  infidelity  at  first,  and 
like  other  wares,  there  has  bees  a  great  reduction  in  the 
price.  The  latter  gentleman  was  lecturing  in  Manchester, 
in  the  autumn  of  1833,  when  the  prices  of  admission  stood 
at  sixpence  and  threepence,  the  highest  sum  being  paid  for  a 
seat  near  the  person  of  the  lecturer.  This  is  a  sad  reduction 
in  the  space  of  about  two  years  ;  and  augurs  fair  not  only 
for  free,  but  vacant  seats,  if  not  the  necessity  of  having  to 
hire  persons  to  hear  them. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  307 

he  said,  "  We  are  waiting  for  a  convoy  of  an- 
gels, and  are  expecting  them  every  day,  to  car- 
ry her  soul  to  the  regions  of  eternal  glory, 
where  there  is  day  without  night,  pleasure 
without  pain,  and  where  eternity  shall  seem  as 
a  day.  She  has  obtained  a  title  and  a  prepara- 
tion for  her  heavenly  inheritance.  She  has  oil 
in  her  vessel,  and  has  on  the  wedding  garment. 
The  Lord  has  taken  a  vast  deal  of  pains  with 
her,  but  he  has  proved  the  conqueror.  She  can 
give  up  all ;  and  when  this  is  the  case,  we  re- 
ceive all.  It  takes  a  great  deal  of  grace  to  say, 
'  Thy  will  be  done.'  My  son-in-law,  Wrathall, 
wishes  me  to  stop  with  her  till  she  finishes  her 
course.  Mr.  Knight's  family  being  ill,  he  is 
obliged  to  return  to  London." 

It  was  during  one  of  his  Lancashire  journeys 
that  he  was  on  the  outside  of  one  of  the  stage 
coaches,  as  on  the  occasion  of  his  going  to 
Grassington,in  one  of  the  heaviest  falls  of  rain 
to  which  he  had  ever  been  exposed  :  "  And  ah, 
barn"  said  he  to  a  friend,  as  though  a  Lanca- 
shire shower  had  something  peculiar  in  it— 
"  ah,  bam,  when  it  rains  there,  it  does  rain  ! 
the  hills  look  white  with  it,  as  it  dashes  down 
the  sides."  His  heart,  as  on  other  occasions, 
was  in  the  right  place.  A  young  woman  sat 
next  him,  who  was  much  annoyed,  being  but 
ill  prepared  to  resist  the  downward  force  of  the 
torrent.  He  looked  at  her  ;  and  while  pitying 
her,  he  felt  happy  in  his  soul,  audibly  blessing 
the  Lord  for  all  his  mercies.  Whenever  his 
female  companion  complained,  he   as   quickly 


308  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

hitched  in  a  pious  sentiment,  exclaiming  on  one 
occasion,  "  Bless  the  Lord  !  it  is  not  a  shower 
of  lire  and  brimstone  from  heaven."  This  sen- 
tence took  effect  ;  it  was  like  a  nail  fastened  in 
a  sure  place  ;  she  became  thoughtful :  and  he 
had  the  happiness  to  learn,  that,  in  consequence 
of  his  behaviour  and  conversation,  she  became 
a  steady  convert  to  Christianity. 

He  preached  twice  during  the  sabbath,  while 
here,  at  Grassington  and  Hebden.  Having 
written  to  his  daughter  Ann  in  London,  and 
home  to  Martha,  but  receiving  no  answer,  he 
was  rather  anxious.  "  Whether,"  said  he  to 
the  latter,  ''you  do  not  think  it  worth  your  while 
to  write,  or  whether  you  are  too  busy,  I  cannot 
tell  :  but  I  am  sure,  if  I  had  sent  word  that  you 
had  a  legacy  of  a  hundred  pounds  left  you,  1 
shoull  have  had  a  few  lines  before  now,  to 
know  where  and  when  you  were  to  receive  it.' 
Yet  he  strove  to  excuse  her  because  of  the 
harvest.  "Many  a  time,"  continued  he,  "1 
have  set  my  face  over  the  brown  mountains 
toward  Mickle field.  I  have  seen  you  in  mind 
in  the  harvest  field,  cutting  down  the  corn.  If 
I  had  wings  like  a  dove  I  would  fly  to  you,  and 
look  at  you.  We  have  had  a  great  deal  of  rain 
here,  almost  every  day,  except  last  week. 
When  I  saw  the  clouds  burst  against  the  mount- 
ains, I  thought  it  would  stop  the  rain  from 
reaching  you.  If  you  have  had  as  much  rain 
as  us,  you  have  had  a  very  wet  harvest.  Hut 
1  hope  you  have  got  the  most  of  it  in,  and  are 
shouting  'Harvest  home.'" 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  309 

Samuel  soon  added,  "Ten  minutes  past  five 
our  niece  departed  this  life.  She  died  in  the 
Lord :  and  blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the 
Lord.  May  you  and  I  be  found  ready  when 
the  message  comes!"  Mr.  W.,  who  appears  to 
have  remained  at  Grassington  till  the  solemn 
event  took  place — having  been  more  sudden 
than  expected — observed  in  the  same  letter, 
"  Father  will  be  at  home,  if  all  is  well,  about 
Monday." 

On  his  return  home,  "  he  was  only  able," 
savs  Mr.  Dawson,  "  to  preach  a  few  times,  and 
attend  two  missionary  meetings,  one  at  East 
Keswick,  in  the  Tadcaster,  and  another  at 
Garforth,  in  the  Leeds  East  circuit.  He  now 
began  to  sink  fast,  though  not  confined  to  bed 
till  a  short  time  before  he  died."  About  a 
month  before  he  quitted  this  transitory  state,  he 
said  to  his  friends,  "  I  am  going  home  ;"  and 
then  informed  them  of  some  arrangements  he 
had  made  for  the  improvement  of  his  death. 
In  these  he  had  only  the  good  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  in  view  ;  and  through  the  whole  of 
them  the  same  distinctiveness  of  character 
the  same  simplicity,  the  same  benevolence,  the 
same  peculiarities  which  marked  his  previous 
life,  were  conspicuous, — some  of  them,  to  those 
who  knew  him  not,  bearing  the  stamp  of  osten- 
tation, yet  perfectly  remote  from  it, — an  in- 
creasingly sweet,  meek,  hallowed  feeling  per- 
vaded every  word,  look,  and  act,  alike  ex- 
pressive of  the  mellowing;  influences  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  upon  his  soul,  thus  checking  the 


310  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

lighter  feelings  of  the  visitant,  who  might  be 
tempted  to  obtrude — the  visitant  himself  feel- 
ing that  the  being  before  whom  he  stood  had 
the  consecrating  hand  of  God  upon  him — that 
death  was  hovering  over  the  ground  which  sup- 
ported him — and  that  through  that  same  Being 
he  was  brought  to  the  immediate  confines  of 
an  eternal  world,  ready  to  open  and  receive  him 
in  any  moment  of  time. 

With  the  exception  of  a  desire  to  have  his 
will  altered,  he  appeared  to  have  no  other  wish 
of  importance  to  gratify;  and  even  in  this  he 
was  preserved  in  "  perfect  peace."  Mr.  Dawson 
visited  him  on  the  Wednesday  before  his  death, 
and  attended  to  some  of  his  last  requests  rela- 
tive to  his  will,  and  other  affairs.  Martha  oc- 
cupied her  accustomed  chair,  when  he  entered 
the  house,  fast  approaching  to  her  80th  year, 
with  her  glasses  on,  and  a  voice  less  feminine 
than  that  of  most  of  the  softer  sex.  She  re- 
ceived him  as  the  friend  of  her  husband,  who 
was  in  an  upper  chamber  ;  and  although  he  was 
so  ill  the  night  before  that  it  was  uncertain 
whether  he  would  see  the  returning  day,  he  no 
sooner  heard  the  voice  of  Mr.  D.,  than  his  spirit 
revived  within  him,  like  that  of  old  Jacob  ;  and 
gathering  up  his  feet,  he  in  effect  said,  "  I  will 
go  and  see  him  before  I  die.''  He  was  quickly 
on  the  ground  floor,  and  took  his  chair  in  the 
corner  by  the  side  of  Martha.  He  told  Mr.  D. 
that  he  wished  to  have  his  will  altered.  This 
was  soon  done,  as  his  effects  were  not  large, 
owing  to  his  charities,  his  gifts  to  his  children 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  311 

and  the  property  of  which  he  had  been  de- 
prived. He  further  observed,  that  he  wished 
to  be  buried  at  Aberford — that  his  friend  Simp- 
son was  to  bake  a  sack  of  meal  into  bread — 
and  that  two  cheeses  were  to  be  purchased. 
Mr.  D.,  who  was  scarcely  prepared  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  last  two  items,  wished  to  know 
the  reason  of  such  preparation,  when  Samuel 
replied,  "  There  will  be  a  thousand  people  at 
my  funeral.  As  soon  as  I  am  gone,  you  must 
advertise  it  in  the  Leeds  papers,  and  my  friends 
will  all  come.'*  Mr.  D.  very  properly  but 
affectionately  remonstrated  with  him,  suggest- 
ing to  him  the  probable  cost,  the  propriety  of 
persons  not  specially  invited  providing  for  them- 
selves, and  the  serious  effect  it  would  have  upon 
the  little  he  had  to  leave.  "  That's  raight" 
responded  Martha,  who  heard  what  was  said ; 
"persuade  him  off  it."  Samuel,  who  still  re- 
tained his  ancient  spirit,  exclaimed,  with  the 
tear  starting  in  his  eye,  "  Expense,  barn  !  I 
never  was  a  miser  while  I  lived,  and  I  should 
not  like  to  die  one."  Being  again  pressed  to 
dismiss  the  subject  from  his  mind,  he  said, 
"  When  the  multitudes  came  to  our  Lord,  he 
could  not  think  of  them  fainting  by  the  way." 
He  reminded  Mr.  Dawson  of  the  text  (Isaiah 
xlviii,  18)  which  he  had  previously  told  him  to 
select,  from  which  to  improve  the  occasion  of 
his  death.  On  Mr.  D.  leaving  the  house, 
Martha,  being  too  infirm  to  accompany  him,  sent 
her  voice  across  the  room,  and  said,  in  allusion 
to  the  funeral  sermon,  just  as  he  stood  in  the 


312      THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 

doorway,    "  See    that  dc'nt  set  him  te  heigh* 
This  was  in   true   character.     She  knew  Mr. 
D.'s  high  opinion  of  Samuel;  and  although  she 
dearly  loved  her  husband,  yet  her  stern  sense 
of  justice,  and  her  jealousy  for  the  honour  of 
God,  led  her  to  give  what  she  deemed  a  timely 
caution.     On    a  friend   visiting   him,  and    em- 
ploying  in     prayer    the    common    expression, 
"  Make  his    bed   in     affliction  ;" — "  Yes,"    re- 
sponded Samuel,  with  promptitude  and  energy, 
and  shah  it  vcel,  Lord !" 
His  thoughts  were    now  solely  directed    to 
his  "  departure,"  and  he  gave  directions  to  one 
of  the  persons  that  attended  him  to  take  the 
dimensions  of  a  closet  on  the  ground  floor,  in 
order  to   ascertain  whether  it  was  sufficiently 
large    to    admit  the    full   length   of   his    body 
after  his  decease.     This  being  done,  he  said, 
"  As  soon  as  I  die,  you  must  take  the  body  down 
and  lay  it  out ;  for  you  will  not  be  able  to  get  the 
coffin  either  down  stairs,  or  out  at  the  window.' 
Two  young  men,  members  of  the  Pontefract 
Wesleyan  society,   watched   with    him  during 
the  last  night  of  his  life  ;  and  from  one  of  these 
— Mr.  James  Foster — some  interesting  particu- 
lars have  been  communicated.     "While  I  was 
in  London,"  said  he  to  them,  "  Dr.  C.  encouraged 
me  to  preach   full  sanctilication,  and  1  will  do 
so.     It  shall  be  done:    faith  laughs  at  impossi- 
bilities, and  cries — It  shall  be  done.     Sing,  joys, 
sing."     In  compliance  with  this  request,  they 
sung  the  well   known   doxulogy,  composed   by 
Bishop  Kenn, 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  313 

"  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow  ;" 

a  hymn  which  will  never  cease  to  be  heard  in 
heaven  by  warbling  millions  of  redeemed  in- 
telligences from  earth — its  strains  no  sooner 
dropping  by  one  individual,  or  one  part  of  the 
militant  church,  than  resumed  by  another — the 
continuous  song  flowing  on,  till  the  last  saint  of 
God  shall  wing  his  way  from  time  to  eternity. 
On  one  of  the  young  men  asking  him  whether 
he  had  any  wish  to  be  restored  so  far  as  to  be 
able  to  preach  again,  he  replied,  "No;"  then 
added,  "  If  it  would  glorify  God,  and  do  good  to 
souls,  I  should  be  willing." 

In  the  course  of  the  night,  he  repeatedly  ex- 
claimed, "  Glory,  glory,  glory !"  then  in  an 
ecstasy  broke  out — "  I  shall  see  him  for  myself, 
and  not  for  another.  The  Lord  has  wrought  a 
miracle  for  me.  He  can — I  know  he  can — I 
cannot  dispute  it.  Christ  in  me  the  hope  of 
glory.  I  am  like  the  miser ;  the  more  I  have, 
the  more  I  want."  His  ear,  like  his  heart, 
seemed  only  tuned  for  heavenly  sounds.  "  Sing 
the  hymn,''  said  he, 

"  Who  are  these  array'd  in  white, 
Brighter  than  the  noon-day  sun, 
Foremost  of  the  sons  of  light ; 
Nearest  the  eternal  throne  ?" 

during  the  whole  of  which,  he  continued  to 
wave  his  hand  in  triumph.  Then  again,  with 
untiring  perseverance  in  the  exercise  of  praise, 

"  My  Jesus  to  know,  and  fee]  bis  blood  flow, 
'Tis  life  everlasting,  'tis  heaven  below." 


314  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

The  hymn  being  finished,  he  said,  "  Blessed 
Jesus !  this  cheers  my  spirits."  It  was  said 
to  him,  "  You  will  soon  be  among  the  dead, 
Samuel.''  "  No  doubt  about  that,"  he  replied  ; 
"  but  I  am  ready  to  be  offered  up — glory  be  to 
the  Lamb !  Some  of  the  friends  in  London  told 
me,  that  I  did  not  know  how  to  pray  ;  but  I  know 
better  than  that — glory — glory — glory!  Mercy 
of  mercies  !  Lord,  save  me  !"  He  was  again 
asked,  "  What  must  we  say  to  your  friends, 
who  inquire  after  you  ?"  "  Tell  them,  joy,  that 
I  have  all  packed  up — that  I  am  still  in  the  old 
ship,  with  my  anchor  cast  within  the  veil — and 
that  my  sails  are  up,  filled  with  a  heavenly 
breeze.  In  a  short  time,  I  shall  be  launched 
into  the  heavenly  ocean."  A  mariner,  and  even 
some  landsmen,  might  be  able  to  discover  a 
confusion  of  metaphor  here ;  but  the  Chris- 
tian can  look  through  all  this,  and  can  per- 
ceive a  soul  in  readiness  for  a  state  of  endless 
felicity. 

A  heavenly  smile  played  upon  his  counten- 
ance, and  the  joy  he  experienced  gave  a  viva- 
city to  his  eye  which  scarcely  comported  with 
the  general  debility  of  his  system.  Prayer 
occupied  some  of  the  short  intervals  between 
hymns ;  and  such  was  the  influence  of  God 
upon  every  exercise,  that  it  seemed  as  though 
other  tones  were  heard  than  those  from  mortal 
lips,  and  the  room  itself  was  "  the  gate  of 
heaven."  One  of  the  persons  who  attended 
him  observed,  "  I  have  spent  whole  nights  in 
reading   and    prayer:   but    the    night  spent  by 


THE    VILLAGE    ELACKSMITH.  315 

the  bedside  of  Samuel  Hick  exceeded  them 
ah." 

Tn  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  he 
died,  some  of  his  friends  came  from  Sherburn 
to  see  him.  Unable  audibly  to  pray  with  them 
himself,  he  requested  them  to  pray,  and  with 
great  feebleness  gave  out  the  first  verse  of  one 
of  his  favourite  hymns, 

"  I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath; 
And  when  my  voice  is  lost  in  death, 

Praise  shall  employ  my  nobler  powers." 

To  a  neighbour,  he  observed,  with  unusual 
solemnity,  "  I  have  as  much  religion  as  will 
take  me  to  heaven  ;"  then  pausing  a  few  seconds ; 
"  but  1  have  none  for  Matty ;"  adding,  with 
another  pause,  "  and  none  for  the  children." 
This  is  the  key  which  unlocks  the  secret  of 
his  real  feelings,  and  shows  that  there  was  no 
thought  of  funeral  parade  in  what  he  had  pre- 
viously observed — nothing  beyond  a  wish  that 
his  remains  might  admonish  the  living  on  the 
subject  of  mortality.  He  found  that  he  had 
nothing  of  which  to  boast — no  more  religion 
than  was  barely  necessary — and  wished  to  im- 
press upon  those  around  the  importance  of 
personal  piety.  Some  of  his  last  words  were, 
"  Peace,  joy,  and  love."  As  evening  drew  on, 
his  speech  began  to  falter ;  yet  every  sentence 
uttered  by  those  around  appeared  to  be  under- 
stood ;  and  when  that  hymn  was  sung, 

"  Ye  virgin  souls,  arise,"  &c, 


316  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

he  entered  into  the  spirit  of  it ;  especially  when 
the  friends  came  to, 

"The  everlasting  doors 

Shall  soon  tiie  saints  receive, 
Above  yon  angel-powers 

In  glorious  joy  to  live  ; 
Far  from  a  world  of  grief  and  sin, 
With  God  eternally  shut  in  ; — " 

at  the  enunciation  of  the  first  line  of  which 
verse  he  lifted  his  dying  hand,  and  waved  it 
around  till  it  fell  by  his  side  ;  still  feebly  raising 
and  turning  around  his  forefinger,  as  the  arm 
was  stretcbed  on  tbe  bed,  betokening  his  triumph 
over  the  "  last  enemy,"  and  showing  to  those 
who  were  with  him  that  he  was — to  use  lan- 
guage previously  employed  by  him — going 
"  full  sail  toward  the  harbour,"  and  had  an  en- 
trance ministered  to  him  "  abundantly  into  the 
everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ."  Just  at  the  moment  that  the  vital 
spark,  which  had  been  some  time  twinkling  in 
its  socket,  was  emitting  its  last  ray,  he  opened 
his  eyes,  and  feebly  articulated,  "  I  am  going  ; 
get  the  sheets  ready,"  and  died.  This  was 
about  eleven  o'clock,  on  Monday  night,  Novem- 
ber 9th,  1829,  in  the  71st  year  of  his  age.* 

On  the  day  of  interment,  which  was  the  suc- 
ceeding sabbath,  such  was  the  sympathy  ex- 
cited in  the  neighbourhood,  that  the  people  for 

*  The  a;_rc  here  specified  is  that  which  was  on  the  breast 
plate  of  the  coffm.  His  brother,  it  may  be  proper  to  notice,  is 
of  opinion  that  he  was  two  yens  older  than  there  stated. 
The  writer,  not  having  had  an  opportunity  to  consult  the 
register,  is  unable  to  decide  between  the  dates 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  317 

some  miles  around,  uninvited,  attended  the 
funeral.  "  Some  hundreds,"  says  Mr.  Dawson, 
"  went  to  Micklefield,  which  is  about  two  miles 
from  Aberford.  The  funeral  procession  swelled 
as  it  proceeded ;  and  when  all  met  at  Aberford, 
it  was  computed,  on  a  moderate  calculation,  that 
not  less  than  a  thousand  persons  were  as- 
sembled together.''  This  rendered  Samuel's 
"  thousand"  almost  prophetic,  and  in  the  dark 
ages  would  have  won  for  him  the  character  of 
a  seer.  Without  any  pretension  to  such  gifts, 
the  fact  itself  of  such  an  extraordinary  con- 
course of  people,  in  a  comparatively  thinly  po- 
pulated district,  affords  an  eminent  instance  of 
public  opinion  in  favour  of  integrity,  usefulness, 
and  unassuming  worth.  Mr.  D.  adds,  "  Had 
not  the  day  been  rather  wet,  and  the  roads 
very  dirty  in  consequence  of  it,  it  is  probable 
many  more  would  have  been  there.  The  church 
was  crowded,  and  scores  could  not  obtain  ad- 
mission. The  worthy  vicar  would  not  permit 
his  curate  to  read  the  service,  but  went  through 
it  himself,  as  a  mark  of  the  respect  he  bore  to 
the  deceased,  and  was  much  pleased  with  the 
excellence  of  the  singing.  It  was  truly  affecting 
to  see  the  crowd  press  to  the  grave,  to  take  their 
last  look  of  the  coffin  that  enclosed  his  mortal 
remains.  They  gazed  awhile  ; — they  turned 
aside,  and  wept,  exclaiming,  'If  ever  there  was 
a  good  man,  Sammy  Hick  was  one.'"  Mr.  D. 
might  have  added,  that  the  infirm  and  aged, 
who  were  unable  to  follow  the  corpse,  appeared 
in  the  doorstcad  of  their  houses,  wiping  away 


318  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

the  tears  as  the  procession  passed ;  and  that 
pleased  as  the  clergyman  was  with  the  singing 
the  tear  was  seen  glistening  in  his  eye  in  the 
course  of  the  service. 

His  death  was  improved  the  sabbath  follow- 
ing, by  Mr.  Dawson,  who  took  the  text,  which, 
as  noticed,  Samuel  had  selected.  The  chapel 
was  incapable  of  containing  one  half  of  the 
people  that  assembled ;  and  though  there  had 
been  a  considerable  fall  of  snow  in  the  course 
of  the  forenoon,  the  preacher  and  congregation 
were  under  the  necessity  of  worshipping  in  the 
open  air.  Such  was  the  anxious  solicitude  of 
the  people  to  pay  respect  to  his  memory,  that 
no  less  than  nine  additional  funeral  sermons 
were  preached,  in  different  parts  of  the  Tad- 
caster  circuit,  besides  others  in  those  of  Selby 
and  Pontefract;  and  some  of  the  simple-hearted 
were  heard  to  say,  "  I  love  heaven  the  better, 
because  of  Sammy  Hick  being  there." 

CONCLUSION  OF    THE    MEMOIR. 

1.  In  Samuel  Hick  we  are  presented  with 
an  additional  exemplification  of  the  numerous 
facts  which  go  to  support  an  argument  pursued 
in  a  small,  but  interesting  tract,  entitled,  "  Great 
Effects  from  little  Causes."  It  is  there 
shown,  that  every  man,  woman  and  child  can 
do  something — can  do  much;  that  we  cannot 
stir,  without  touching  some  string  that  will 
vibrate  after  our  heads  are  laid  in  the  dust; 
that  one  word  of  pious  counsel,  uttered  in  the 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  319 

hearing  of  a  child,  may  produce  an  effect  upon 
children's  children  whose  influence  may  be 
felt  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe,  and  may 
extend  to  eternity  ;  and  that  it  is  not  improbable 
that  eternity  will  disclose  to  us,  how  the  as- 
tonishing events  of  this  age  sprung  at  first  from 
the  closet  of  some  obscure  saint,  like  Simeon 
and  Hannah  of  old,  "  praying  to  God  alway, 
and  waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Israel." 
What  has  resulted  from  the  labours  of  Samuel 
Hick,  emphatically  one  of  "  the  iveak  things  of 
the  world,"  is  beyond  the  power  of  any  one, 
except  an  Infinite  Intelligence,  to  calculate. 
He  set  many  a  human  being  in  motion  for 
heaven,  and  accelerated  the  march  of  others. 

2.  The  admirable  economy  of  Methodism  is 
unfolded,  in  accommodating  itself  to  the  bestow- 
ments  of  God  to  his  creatures,  whether  he  con- 
fers upon  the  individual  the  lesser  or  the  more 
exalted  intellectual  endowments — and  the  de- 
signs of  that  God  in  holding  every  talent  in 
requisition  for  the  general  good  of  mankind. 
No  disparagement  is  intended  to  other  Christian 
communities,  by  stating  that  the  Established 
Church,  the  Calvinists,  the  Baptists,  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends,  could  not,  agreeably  to  their 
economy,  have  found  employment  for  such  a 
man  as  was  Samuel  Hick.  They  would  have 
been  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to  do  with  him ; 
and  would  have  been  ashamed  of  him  as  a 
preacher,  however  they  might  have  borne  with 
him  as  a  Christian.  But  Methodism,  while  she 
lays  her  hand  upon  the  pounds,  has  never  dis- 


320  THE    VILLAGE     BLACKSMITH. 

dained  to  stoop  to  the  pence  ;  and  it  is  in  the 
pence — the  pence,  in  more  senses  than  the  me- 
taphorical one  intended — that  she  finds  her 
strength.  "  Gather  up  the  fragments  that  re- 
main, that  nothing  be  lost,"  will  apply  in  a 
thousand  cases  besides  the  one  which  called 
i'orth  the  remark  from  the  Son  of  God. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1832,  just  as  some 
of  the  last  sheets  of  the  third  edition  of  the 
memoir  of  her  departed  husband  were  passing 
through  the  press,  Martha  was  summoned  into 
the  presence  of  her  Lord.  With  all  the  pru- 
dence and  care  which  characterized  her  pro- 
ceedings, a  proper  occasion,  as  will  have  been 
perceived,  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  draw 
out  the  truly  noble  and  independent  spirit 
which  she  possessed,  and  of  the  credit  of  which 
she  had  been  deprived  from  the  heedless 
exuberance  of  her  husband's  givings.  The 
profits  of  the  first  edition  of  this  volume  were 
sacredly  set  apart  for  her  benefit :  and  when 
.Mr.  Dawson  presented  her  with  the  first-fruits, 
he  was  accosted  by  her  with — K  I  cannot  think 

of  taking  any  thing,  till  I  know  that  Mr. 

shall  suffer  no  loss  by  it ;"  and  it  was  not  till 
she  was  satisfied  on  this  point,  that  she  could 
be  induced  to  accept  the  offering.  Her  faculties 
were  greatly  impaired  before  she  died ;  but 
she  left  the  world,  if  not  with  Samuel's  triumph 
in  Christian  peace. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  321 


NOTE.* 

The  order  of  God,  and  the  confusion  of  man, 
viewed  in  connection  with  religious  assemblies. 

On  the  visit  of  the  apostles  to  Ephesus, 
'  the  whole  city  was  filled  with  confusion. 
Some  therefore  cried  one  thing,  and  some 
another :  for  the  assembly  was  confused ;  and 
the  more  part  knew  not  wherefore  they  were 
come  together.''!  Similar  effects  have  followed 
in  every  age,  and  in  almost  every  city,  town, 
and  village,  since  that  period,  on  any  extraor- 
dinary work  of  God,  in  the  awakening  and 
conversion  of  sinners.  The  stillness  and 
serenity  of  the  midnight  hour  seemed  to  en- 
wrap the  slumbering  citizens,  till  Paul,  "  finding 
certain  disciples"  who  had  only  been  baptized 
"  unto  John's  baptism,"  and  who,  like  many 
moderns,  whatever  they  may  have  "  heard]'' 
have  not  known  "  whether  there  be  any  Holy 
Ghost,"  "  laid  his  hands  upon  them,"  and 
preached  in  their  hearing  the  faith  of  Christ.J 
No  sooner  could  it  be  affirmed,  that  "  the  Holy 
Ghost  came  on  them" — that  "  they  spake  with 
tongues  and  prophesied" — and  that  Paul  "  went 
into  the  synagogue,  and  spake  boldly — disputing 
and  persuading  the  things  concerning  the  king- 
don)  of  God" — than  "  divers  were  hardened,  and 

*  See  pare  163,      t  Acts  xix,  29,  32.      t  Acts  xix,  2,  6 
21 


322  THS    vii, I.  IOE    BtACKSXITB. 

believed  not,  but  spake  evil  oflhal  way  before  the 

multitude.'-*  Among  the  worst  of  tliese  were 
"certain  of  the  vagabond  Jews,"  whose  repre- 
sentatives in  the  present  day  are  to  be  found 
in  the  lower  ranks  of  society,  among  the  vicious 
and  uninstructed.f  When  the  Lord,  however, 
began  to  make  bare  his  arm  in  judgment  as 
well  as  in  mercy,  "  fear  fell  on  them  all,  and 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  magnified.":]: 
But  among  those  who  were  alarmed,  there  were 
only  a  certain  number  that  "  believed" — "  con- 
fessed"— "  showed  their  deeds'' — and  "  burned" 
their  "  books,"  by  which  they  had  "  used  curious 
arts."$  Up  to  this  period,  the  opposition  was 
a  good  deal  confined  to  the  vulgar,  as  Chris- 
tianity laid  the  axe  to  the  root  of  their  vices. 
But.  when  "  mightily  grew  the  word  of  God  and 
prevailed,"  affecting  the  established  religion  of 
the  place,  to  which  the  secular  interests  of  many 
of  the  worshippers  were  linked,  it  was  then 
that  the  higher  orders  of  society  considered 
themselves  justified  in  supporting  the  virulence 
of  persecution.  "  Demetrius,  a  silversmith," 
who  "  made  silver  shrines  for  Diana" — a  busi- 
ness that  "  brought  no  small  gain  unto  the 
craftsmen,"  led  the  way.  Noble  and  ignoble 
being  now  engaged — the  one  in  support  of  their 
vices,  and  the  other  of  their  gains,  "  the  whole 
city  was  filled  with  confusion."  It  is  a  re- 
markable fact,  however,  that  the  confusion  be 
longed  not  to  the    disciples  and  brethren,  but  to 

*  Acts  r.\r.,  6,  9.     t  Vor.  13.     X  Ver.  10,  17.     f)  Ver.  18, 19 


TH1-:     VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  323 

the  mob ; — to  the  latter  also  was  the  conflict  of 
opinion  to  he  charged,  some  crying  "  one  thing, 
and  some  another;" — and  that  to  them,  finally, 
was  the  most  profound  ignorance  to  be  attributed, 
since  "  the  more  part  knew  not  wherefore  they 
were  come  together."* 

"  Noisy  meetings,"  so  called,  in  modern 
times,  are  religious  assemblies  which  have 
been  generally  distinguished  for  sudden  awaken- 
ings and  conversions.  Some  writers  of  respect- 
ability, under  an  impression  possibly  that  such 
meetings  are  discreditable  to  Christianity,  have 
laboured  to  remove  the  noise — as  an  effect,  by 
referring  the  cause,  sudden  conversion,  to  apos- 
tolic times,  and  by  representing  such  change  as 
the  result  of  miracle,  in  order  to  confine  it  to 
the  first  age  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  arguing 
from  the  cessation  of  the  one,  the  absurdity  of 
the  other.  Among  those  who  are  desirous  of 
referring  every  thing  "  quick  and  poiccrfuV'  to 
primitive  days,  Dr.  Mant  takes  a  distinguished 
stand.  His  language  is,  "  Where  the  conver- 
sion was  sudden  or  instantaneous,  it  was  the 
consequence  of  miraculous  evidence  to  the  truth. 
When  the  preaching  of  Peter  on  the  day  of 
pentecost  added  to  the  church  three  thousand 
souls,  they  were  men  who  had  been  amazed 
and  confounded  by  the  effusion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  the  supernatural  gift  of  tongues." 
Had  the  learned  prelate  paid  proper  attention 
to  the  subject,  he  would  not  have  selected  this 
portion  of  Scripture  history  for  the  establish- 

*   Acts  xix.  20,  32. 


324  THE    VII, I, AG  I'.    BLACKSMITH. 

merit  of  his  non-experience  theory ;   for  it  ap 
pears, 

1.  That  the  apostles  and  brethren,  who  were 
all  members  of  the  Christian  Church,  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  in  number,  were  assembled 
in  an  upper  room  in  Jerusalem.* 

2.  That  the  apostles  and  disciples  were  the 
only  persons  that  saw  the  cloven  tongues  of  fire 
— were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost — and  spake 
in  different  languages.! 

3.  That  on  a  report  of  this  being  "noised 
abroad,  the  multitude  came  together."!  These, 
it  ought  to  be  observed,  had  neither  seen  any 
thing  that  had  occurred,  nor  even  then  received 
the  Holy  Ghost. §  Having  only  heard  of  the 
descent  of  the  Spirit,  their  evidence  of  course — 
allowing  a  trifle  for  lapse  of  time — was  similar 
to  what  is  furnished  to  every  man  in  the  pre- 
sent day,  who  is  confirmed  in  the  truth  by  a 
perusal  of  the  fact  in  the  sacred  pages. 

4.  That  when  they  heard  the  apostles  speak 
in  different  tongues,  they,  in  common  with  all 
who  read  the  account  with  seriousness  and 
attention,  "  were  amazed  and  marvelled."^ 

5.  That  instead  of  being  equally  convinced, 
much  more  converted,  they  were  all  "  in  doubt ;" 
and  some  not  only  hung  in  a  state  of  suspense, 
but  "  others  mocking,  said,  These  men  are  full 
of  new  wine."T  In  this  state,  amazed,  marvel- 
ling, doubting,  and  mocking,  each  part  sustained 
by  different  persons  probably,  as  in  a  drama, 

*  Acts  i,  12.  15.  t  Arts  ii,  1,4.  %  Ver.  5,  6. 

^  Ver.  38  I!  Ver.  7,   12.        f  Ver.  12,  13. 


THE     VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  325 

the  miracle  left  them;  unconvinced  and  uncon- 
verted. To  attempt,  therefore,  to  get  rid  of 
modern  instantaneous  conversions,  by  attribut- 
ing those  in  the  apostolic  age  to  miracle,  not 
only  evinces  a  defect  in  Biblical  knowledge,  a 
disposition  to  confine  the  Spirit's  influence  to 
peculiar  modes  and  seasons,  but  an  awful  in- 
capacity— from  a  want  of  experience — to  treat 
on  a  subject  so  immediately  connected  with 
personal  salvation  and  the  sacred  office. 

Turning  from  the  miracle  and  its  effects  of 
amazement,  Sfc,  we  find  Peter  publicly  address- 
ing the  "  multitude"  convened  on  the  occasion.* 
The  general  topics  on  which  he  enlarged  were 
the  predictions  of  the  Old  Testament  in  re- 
ference to  the  Messiah — the  signs  of  his  com- 
ing— the  blessings  of  his  kingdom — his  cha- 
racter— his  miracles — his  crucifixion — his  re- 
surrection— his  ascension — and  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. f  What,  then,  are  the  facts  of 
the  case  ?  They  are  these — and  the  appeal  is 
made  to  the  sacred  records : — 

1.  That  the  probability  is  in  favour  of  Peter 
having  addressed  the  multitude  in  his  own 
tongue,  the  language  spoken  by  the  Jews  at 
the  time  ;  thus,  he  accosted  them,  "  Ye  men  of 
Judea,  and  all  ye  that  dwell  at  Jerusalem,"  in- 
cluding both  natives  and  strangers,  to  whom  by 
their  residence  the  language  was  familiar.;};  In 
his  more  private  conversations,  and  in  his  ad- 
dresses to  select  parties,  belonging  to  different 

*  Ac!s  ii,  II.  +   Ver.   14-36.  t  Vcr.  14. 


326  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

nations,  he,    together   with   his    brethren,  em- 
ployed their  own  separate  tongues.* 

2.  That  it  was  through  the  preaching  of 
Christ  crucified,  and  not  through  the  miracu- 
lous gift  of  tongues,  that  the  multitudes  were 
awakened  :  hence  it  is  affirmed,  "  Now,  when 
they  heard  these  things" — heard  that  God  had 
made  that  same  Jesus,  whom  they  had  crucified, 
both  Lord  and  Christ,  "  they  were  pricked  in 
their  hearts,  and  said  unto  Peter  and  to  the 
rest  of  the  apostles,  Men  and  brethren,  what 
shall  we  do  ?"f 

3.  That  it  was  not  till  after  the  delivery  of 
the  general  discourse,  that  signs  of  genuine  con- 
version succeeded — Peter  being  obliged  to  urge 
the  subject  home  to  the  bosoms  of  his  auditors, 
with  "  Repent,  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of 
you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  ;"|  the  whole,  up  to  this  mo- 
ment, being  deemed  impenitent,  unbaptized, 
unpardoned,  and  without  the  saving  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  was  only  subsequent 
to  this  period  that  the  inspired  penman  could 
observe,  "  Then  they  that  gladly  received  his 
word  were  baptized ;  and  that  same  day  there 
were  added  unto  them  about  three  thousand 
souls."§ 

From  the  whole  of  this  statement,  it  is  evi- 
dent, that    it  was    not     the  medium — not    the 
tongue— not  any  number  of  tongues — not  even 
the  miracle  imparting  the  gift  of  those  tongues, 
*  Ve.r.  8-11.       tWr.36,37.     t  Arts  ii,  38.     $Ver.41. 


Till:    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  327 

that  produced  the  change,  but  the  subject  matter 
of  the  Christian  ministry :  the  one — viz.,  the 
gift  of  tongues,  as  well  it  might,  filled  the  mind 
with  amazement ;  the  other — the  words  of  God, 
effected  the  conversion  of  the  heart ;  and  it  is 
still  that  "  word"  accompanied  by  the  energy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  the  Divine  Being 
has  employed  down  to  the  present  time,  as  the 
grand  and  leading  instrument  in  the  conversion 
of  sinners.  If,  agreeably  to  the  original  com- 
mission, the  gospel  was  to  be  preached  to  every 
creature,  and  throughout  every  era  of  time ; — 
if  the  same  end  was  to  be  accomplished  by  it, 
which  could  only  follow  by  the  same  accom- 
panying influence  ;  it  is  rational  to  suppose, 
since  the  same  necessity  exists,  that  it  will 
prove  as  much  "  the  power  of  God  to  salvation'' 
in  the  present,  and  in  Great  Britain,  as  in  the 
first  century  at  Jerusalem.  With  the  same 
instrument,  operating  on  similar  subjects,  we 
are  not  only  authorized  to  expect  the  same 
grand  internal  change,  but  also  minor,  external, 
and  often  incidental  effects,  to  exhibit  themselves. 
By  paying  a  little  attention  to  the  subject, 
the  difference  between  an  ancient  and  a  modern 
revival  will  be  found  not  so  great — and  therefore 
not  so  alarming — as  some  persons  are  led  to 
imagine.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the  points 
of  agreement : — 

AN  ANCIENT  REVIVAL      A  MODERN  REVIVAL 

IN    JERUSALEM.  AMONG    THE    WESLEYANS. 

1.  Prior  to  the' religious         1.  The  preaching  of  tho 
commotion  in  the  holv  city,     gospel  invariably  precedes  a 


328 


I  HE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 


"  the  word,"  as  has  already 
been  observed,  was  preached 
by  the  apostles,  Acts  ii,  14. 
2.  The  people  were 
"pricked  in  their  heart," 
verse  37. 


3.  There  was  a  great  in- 
quiry among  the  persons  se- 
riously affected ;  anxiously 
asking,  "  Men  and  brethren, 
what  shall  we  do  1"  Acts 
ii,  37. 

4.  The  serious  inquirers 
"continued  in  prayers," 
verse  42. 


5.  To  prayer  they  added 
the  "breaking  of  bread," 
Acts  ii,  42,  46. 


revival  of  the  work  of  God 
among  the  Methodists. 

2.  Conviction  of  the  ag- 
gravating nature  of  moral 
evil  is  experienced,  and  a 
desire,  according  to  rule,  to 
flee  from  the  wrath  to  come, 
is  expected  in  all  who  unite 
themselves  to  the  society. 

3.  Inquirers,  denominat- 
ed sincere  seekers  of  salva- 
tion, multiply  on  those  occa- 
sions ;  their  earnestness  and 
language  varying,  according 
to  the  degree  of  feeling  ex- 
cited. 

4.  Though  prayer  meet- 
ings are  regularly  establish- 
ed throughout  the  connec- 
tion, they  are  much  more 
numerous  under  a  quicken- 
ing influence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  than  at  other  times. 
Then,  more  than  at  other 
seasons,  they  pray  "  with- 
out ceasing  ;"  so  much  so, 
indeed,  as  frequently  to  an- 
noy their  prayericss  neigh- 
bours. 

5.  As  no  mention  is  mado 
of  icine  in  this  case,  and  tho 
private  members  were  en- 
gaged in  "  breaking  bread 
from  house  to  /jomjc,"  it  is 
warrantable  to  conclude, 
that  an  allusion  is  made  to 
the  Kyrnrat,  lovefcasts,  to 
which  young  converts  are 
extremely  partial,  and  vvhicb 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 


329 


6.  They  gladly  "receiv- 
ed" the  "  word"  preached, 
verse  41. 


7.  A  love  to  the  sanctua- 
ry of  the  Most  High  follow- 
ed ;  for  they  continued  "dai- 
ly with  one  accord  in  the 
temple,"  Acts  ii,  46. 


8.  The  religion  of  the 
temple  entered  their  dwell- 
ings, in  attestation  of  which, 
"  they  ate  their  meat  with 
gladness  and   singleness  of 

heart" "  praising  God," 

Acts  ii,  46,  47. 


9.  "They  continued  stead- 
fastly in  the  apostles'  doc- 
trine and  fellowship,"  verse 
42. 


10.  The  most  expansive 
benevolence  was  manifested, 


constitute  a  part  of  the  pru. 
dential  means  of  grace  among 
the  WeeleyarM. 

6.  Ministers  are  looked 
upon  as  angels  of  God — 
and  their  message  is  the  joy 
of  the  soul  ;  and  the  man 
who  is  most  useful  in  a  re 
vival  is  most  beloved. 

7.  Places  of  worship  are 
crowded — old  chapels  are 
enlarged — and  new  ones  are 
built.  The  language  of  the 
people  is,  "  How  amiable 
are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord 
of  hosts  !"  In  a  moment's 
absence,  they  are  ready  to 
exclaim,  "  My  soul  longeth, 
yea,  even  fainteth,  for  the 
courts  of  the  Lord." 

8.  At  tables,  where  "  grace 
before  meat"  was  never 
heard,  and  in  houses  where 
a  family  altar  was  never 
erected,  the  voice  of  prayer 
is  poured  forth,  and  the 
voice  of  praise  makes  melo- 
dy to  "  them  that  are  with- 
out."   I 

9.  Uniting  themselves  in 
church  fellowship  to  the 
body,  the  young  converts 
conduct  themselves  agreea- 
bly to  the  gospel,  and  to  the 
rules  and  regulations  im- 
posed upon  them  by  a  con- 
ference of  Christian  minis- 
ters. 

10.  There  is,  perhaps,  not 
a   Christian   community  in 


330  THE     VI  I.I. Alii:    BLACKSMITH. 

as  a  fruit  of  the  Christianity     the  world  which  supporcs  a 
possessed:  they  "  sold  theit     more   extensive    system   of 
possessions    and    goods" —     charity  than  the  Wesleyans. 
"parted  them  to  all,  as  eve-     Such  are  their  givings,  that 
ry    man  had   need" — broke     they  have  been  advanced  as 
"bread  from  house  to  house"     an    objection    against     the 
— "  and  had  all  things  com-     preachers,   as    though   they 
mon,"  Acts  ii,  44,  45,  46.       were  too  liberally  supported  ; 
and   these    have    increased 
and  decreased  with  the   spi- 
ritual life  of  the  body. 

In  what,  then,  consists  the  principal  differ- 
ence ?  In  Jerusalem,  the  converts  "  had  favour 
with  all  the  people  ;"  in  modern  times,  an  ob- 
jection is  taken  against  revivals,  because  of  the 
occasional  noise,  which  forms  an  accompani- 
ment. 

There  are  persons  that  merit  an  apologist, 
and  may  be  excused  for  the  part  they  take  in 
attempting  to  quell  an  apparent  tumult,  when 
persons  professing  unusual  sanctity,  and  who 
have  been  disciplined  in  the  midst  of  such  as- 
semblies, have  taken  offence  at  them.  They 
have  sometimes  raised  as  great  a  clamour  lor 
order,  as  the  clamour  lias  actually  amounted  to 
which  they  have  attempted  to  silence.  Order, 
decorum,  confusion,  &c,  very  often  mean 
just  as  much  as  we  are  disposed  to  make  of 
them.  Imagine  a  magnificent  edifice,  in  the 
course  of  erection,  rivalling,  in  its  splendour,  the 
noble  minster  at  York.  Persons  totally  unac- 
quainted with  the  plans  and  designs  of  the 
architect,  on  seeing  a  hundred  men  employed  in 
different  places,  crossing  and  recrossing  each 
other's  path,  hewing  wood,  drawing  water,  mix- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  331 

ing,  chiseling,  hammering,  moulding,  with  a 
hundred  other  et  ceteras,  would  be  ready  to  label 
the  whole  as  one  immense  mass  of  confusion. 
But  the  architect  himself,  confident  in  the  har 
monious  movement  of  his  own  plans,  and  who 
can  connect  the  whole  from  beginning  to  end, 
sees  that  every  man  is  in  his  proper  place,  and 
that  the  building  is  regularly  rising — proceeding 
with  order — going  on  toward  completion.  This, 
though  not  a  perfect,  is  a  sufficient  illustration 
of  a  prayer  meeting.  A  hundred  persons 
are  associated  together,  with  a  hundred  wants, 
in  a  hundred  different  states,  with  a  hundred 
objects  in  view,  and  with  as  many  different 
modes  of  accomplishing  their  purposes.  Here 
is  one  dumb,  and  as  a  beast  before  his  Maker, 
capable  only  of  expressing  himself  by  a  sigh. 
A  second,  more  deeply  wrought  upon,  gives 
utterance  to  his  sorrow  by  a  heavy  sob.  A 
third  breaks  silence  with  a  groan.  A  fourth, 
drinking  still  deeper  of  the  wormwood  and  gall, 
actually  roars  out  for  the  disquietude  of  his 
soul.  A  fifth  is  wrestling  with  God  in  mighty 
prayer  for  the  blessing  of  pardon,  while  a  dozen 
more  penitents  are  smiting  on  their  breasts,  and 
each  responds  to  the  prayer  publicly  offered, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner" — a  score  of 
voices  lifted  up  at  the  same  time,  and  striking 
m,  like  the  people  of  old,  with  a  hearty  "  Amen." 
Two  or  three  persons,  in  the  midst  of  this, 
having  obtained  peace  with  God,  being  very  dif- 
ferently affected,  are  ready  to  commence  a  song 
of  praise,  and  nothing  but  the  word    "  Glory* 


332  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

dwells  upon  their  lips.  Though  the  prayei 
publicly  presented  to  God  is  one,  yet  the  states 
of  the  people  differ.  It  cannot  perhaps  reach 
every  case,  because  every  case  is  not  known  to 
the  person  who  is  the  mouth  of  the  audience ; 
and  persons  will  be  affected  in  proportion  as  it 
reaches  themselves — thus  passing  from  one  to 
another :  and  till  every  case  is  reached,  agony 
itself  will  compel  the  penitent  to  throw  in  his 
sententious  and  ejaculatory  interruptions,  in 
order  to  hasten  the  blessing.  If  the  people 
were  in  one  state,  had  all  arrived  at  the  same 
stage  of  religious  knowledge,  had  the  same 
strength  of  intellect,  and  the  same  views,  they 
might  then  be  brought  to  keep  tolerable  time 
with  each  other,  like  a  number  of  clocks  or 
watches.  Until  this  is  the  case,  t^e  character 
of  a  meeting,  composed  of  persons  taking  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  by  holy  violence,  will  vary : 
and  to  a  person  entering  into  a  place  at  the 
period  just  described,  the  whole  might  appear  a 
scene  of  confusion,  and  he  might,  by  way  of 
hushing  it  into  stillness,  bawl  out  more  lustily 
than  any  of  them  for  order  and  for  a  constable. 
But  such  a  person  should  recollect,  that  man's 
confusion  is  very  often  God's  order.  The  Di- 
vine Being,  who  sees  not  as  man — man,  who  is 
unable  to  look  beyond  the  veil  of  humanity — 
beholds  the  same  Spirit  at  work,  though  va- 
rious in  his  operations — the  same  grand  work 
going  on,  though  in  different  persons — the  work 
of  prayer,  praise,  conviction,  repentance,  pardon, 
holiness,  love,  joy,  peace,  all  proceeding  in  regu- 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  333 

lar  order,  not  confusedly  mixed  up  in  one  human 
soul  at  the  same  moment  of  time,  but  distinct,  in 
different  persons.  A  few  varied  gestures  or 
movements  to  the  eye  of  the  beholder,  or  a  few 
jarring  sounds  to  the  ca/  of  the  hearer,  may  co«- 
found  the  individual  himself  who  thus  looks 
and  listens,  but  cannot  change  the  distinct  cha- 
racter of  the  work.  A  thousand  congregations 
met  at  the  same  moment,  under  the  immediate 
eye  of  God,  engaged  in  prayer  and  praise,  though 
in  different  places,  are  not  more  distinct,  or  less 
to  be  charged  with  disorder,  than  the  separate 
characters  in  a  prayer  meeting,  each  of  whom 
has  his  distinct  work  of  grace  upon  his  heart, 
and  his  distinct  sentiments,  "  uttered  or  unex- 
pressed," on  his  tongue.  There  is  nothing 
irrational  in  different  men  in  different  states  be- 
ing differently  affected,  and  manifesting  those 
internal  effects  by  external  signs.  Confusion  in 
the  mass  to  man  is  order  to  God  in  the  indi- 
vidual. They  have  only  to  be  separated  to  ap- 
pear so  to  their  fellows.  A  partition  of  burned 
clay,  three  inches  thick,  will  settle  the  differ- 
ence even  with  man,  between  confusion  and 
order ;  on  each  side  of  a  half  dozen  of  which 
partitions  separate  groups  may  be  differently 
engaged,  one  in  sighing,  another  in  groaning,  a 
third  in  singing,  a  fourth  in  murmuring  accents, 
like  the  noise  of  many  waters,  following  the 
minister  in  the  Litany,  or  in  any  part  of  the 
Church  service.  Let  men  only  be  saved  sys- 
tematically, with  the  charm  of  brick  and  mortar 
between  them,  and  the  work  at  once  becomes 


334  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

genuine  !  But  the  moment  the  groaners  blend 
with  the  sighers,  the  work  loses  its  character, 
as  though  the  ear  of  the  Saviour  could  not  dis- 
tinguish sounds,  the  eye  of  the  Saviour  could 
not  discover  the  shades  of  difference  in  the 
work,  or  the  different  workings  of  the  heart ! 
A  worthy  gentleman  who  wished  to  systema- 
tize matters,  and  have  every  thing  done  de- 
cently and  in  order,  feeling,  as  a  member  of  the 
establishment,  for  the  honour  of  religion,  dis- 
covered his  concern  for,  and  insight  into,  divine 
things,  in  rather  a  singular  manner.  There 
was  a  revival  of  religion  among  the  Wesleyans 
in  Manchester,  in  the  summer  of  1816,  and  the 
grand  place  of  resort  for  the  devout  was  Old- 
ham-street  chapel.  As  there  was  an  occa- 
sional mingling  of  voices  in  the  chapel,  and 
these  had  risen  so  high  as  to  bring  the  assem- 
blies under  the  imputation  of  "  noisy  meetings," 
the  gentleman  referred  to,  knowing  that  Dr. 
Law,  then  bishop  of  Chester,  was  about  to 
visit  Manchester,  took  the  alarm,  and  went  to 
an  influential  member  of  society,  to  see  whether 
the  work,  or  in  other  words,  the  meetings, 
could  not  be  suspended  awhile,  till  the  digni- 
tary had  left  the  town,  that  the  credit  of  the 
town  might  not  be  injured  in  his  estimation. 
The  manufacture  of  the  town  will  at  once  ac- 
count for  the  gentleman's  notions  ;  going  on  the 
supposition  that  the  work  of  God  might  be 
managed  like  the  machinery  in  a  cotton  mill, 
put  in  motion  when  we  please — worked  slow 
or  fast — or  laid  to  rest  between  meals !     The 


TUB     YII.LAOE    BLACKSMITH.  335 

work  might  be  suspended  here,  if  it  could  be 
effected  hereafter ;  but  this  can  only  be  shown 
on  popish  principles,  and  on  the  principles  of 
the  bishop  himself,  who  hesitated  not  to  pray 
for  one  of  the  royal  family  after  her  demise, 
and  which  prayer  is  yet  in  print,  in  the  funeral 
sermon  delivered  on  the  occasion.  Certainly, 
groans  in  the  living  are  as  justifiable  as  prayers 
for  the  dead,  and  earnestness  in  religion  as 
praiseworthy  as  indifference. 


336  THF.    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 


THE  SUBSTANCE  OF  AN  ADDRESS. 


"  Rejoice  evermore.  Pray  without  ceasing.  In  every 
thing  give  thanks :  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  concerning  you.  Quench  not  the  Spirit.  Despise 
not  prophesyings.  Prove  all  things  :  hold  fast  that  which  is 
good.  Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil.  And  the  very 
God  of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly  :  and  I  pray  God  your 
whole  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body,  be  preserved  blameless 
unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  I  Thess.  v, 
16-23. 

I  have  to  tell  you,  that  you  have  only  an 
old  blacksmith  in  the  pulpit  to-night,  and  that 
you  may  look  for  very  plain  truths.  When  I 
first  began  to  preach,  I  was  sadly  afraid  lest  I 
should  not  be  able  to  recollect  my  text,  for  I 
could  neither  read  nor  write.  But  now,  blessed 
be  the  Lord,  I  can  do  both.  The  Lord  is  a 
wonderful  teacher ;  and  when  he  undertakes 
any  work,  he  can  soon  make  a  job  of  it.  I 
cannot  preach  a  learned  sermon ;  but  I  can 
give  you  the  word  of  God  just  as  I  have  it 
before  me. 

"  Rejoice  evermore."  The  text  says, "  ever- 
?nore."  What !  rejoice  in  tribulation,  in  famine 
and  nakedness — when  there  is  no  money  in  the 
pocket,  and  no  meat  in  the  cupboard  ?  was 
there  ever  a  man,  think  you,  that  could  do  so  ? 
O  yes,  my  friends,  I  can  find  you  a  man  that 
did.    What  says  Habakkuk  ?  "  Although  the  fig 


TUB    VILLAOK    BLACKSMITH.  337 

tree  shall  not  blossom,  neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the 
vines;  the  labour  of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the 
fields  shall  yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut 
off  from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in 
the  stalls :  yet  I  loill  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I  will 
joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation."  Do  you  think 
I  cannot  find  you  another  in  the  word  of  God  ? 
O  yes,  I  can.  What  says  Job,  after  all  his 
losses  and  sufferings  ?  "  Naked  came  I  out  of 
my  mother'' s  icomb,  and  naked  shall  I  return 
thither :  the  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
away  :"  and  what  then  ?  Why,  "  Blessed  be  the 
name  of  the  Lord!"  Who  would  have  expected 
this  ?  Not  the  infidel,  I  am  sure.  He  would 
rather  have  thought  that  Job  ought  to  have 
said,  "  And  cursed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord !" 
And  do,  you  think,  friends,  that  we  are  going 
to  be  beat  by  these  Old  Testament  saints — 
those  that  lived  in  the  dark  ages?  No,  no. 
St.  Paul  speaks  about  being  "  joyful  in  tribula- 
tion." In  the  text,  he  says,  "  Rejoice  evermore ;" 
— "  and  again  I  say,  Rejoice."  You  may  do  as 
you  like,  friends;  but  for  my  part,  I  am  de- 
termined to  enjoy  my  privilege — to  "  rejoice 
evermore,"  as  here  commanded. 

"  Pray  without  ceasing."  That  is,  live  in 
the  spirit  of  prayer ;  and  pray  with  your  voice 
as  often  as  you  have  opportunity.  You  may 
pray  when  you  are  at  your  work,  as  well  as 
when  you  are  upon  your  knees.  Many  a  time 
have  I  prayed  while  shoeing  a  horse  ;  and  I 
know  that  God  has  both  heard  and  answered 
me.  Were  it  not  for  this  inward  prayer,  how 
22 


338  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

could  we  "pray  without  ceasing  ?"  St.  Paul 
did  not  mean,  that  we  were  to  leave  our  busi- 
ness, or  our  families,  and  be  always  upon  our 
knees.  No,  no.  I  have  my  business  to  mind, 
and  my  family  to  provide  for :  and,  glory  be  to 
God  !  while  we  "provide  things  honest  in  the 
sight  of  all  men"  we  may  "  work  out"  our  "  salva- 
tion" by  praying  secretly  to  him.  But  this  is 
not  all.  We  should  have  set  times  for  prayer, 
both  public  and  private ;  we  should  pray  with 
our  families,  and  also  in  the  house  of  God.  It 
wouid  be  a  sad  thing,  if,  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
any  of  our  children  were  to  rise  up  and  say, 
"  I  never  heard  my  parents  pray ;  I  may  have 
heard  them  curse  and  swear,  and  tell  lies,  but 
not  pray."  Other  children  may  say,  "  We 
have  heard  our  parents  pray — for  they  said  the 
Lord's  prayer ;  the  very  first  word  of  which 
was  a  lie  in  their  mouths.  They  knew  that 
God  was  not  their  '  Father ;'  they  neither  loved 
nor  served  him,  but  were  of  their  father  (he  devil." 
O,  my  friends,  this  outside,  this  formal  religion 
will  not  do  ;  we  must  get  it  into  our  hearts. 
Then  our  prayers  will  be  acceptable  to  God, 
and  useful  to  ourselves. 

"In  every  thing  give  thanks."  What! 
for  a  bad  debt,  or  a  broken  leg  ?  for  parish  pay  ? 
for  a  dinner  of  herbs  1  for  a  thatched  cottage  1 
Ay,  praise  God  for  all  things.  He  knows  what 
is  best  for  us.  We  have  more  than  we  de- 
serve ;  and  we  should  neither  take  a  bite  of 
bread,  nor  a  drink  of  water,  without  giving 
thanks  for    them.      II    we    were  more  thankful 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  339 

for  our  mercies,  God  would  give  us  more  :  but 
we  are  by  nature  so  very  ungrateful — either  mur- 
muring against  providence,  or  expecting  so 
much  more  than  common  food  and  raiment,  that 
we  need  a  positive  command  before  we  will 
give  thanks  for  what  God  gives  to  us  out  of  his 
free  bounty.  You  must  give  thanks,  then ; 
"  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  con- 
cerning you?''  Now,  the  will  of  God  should 
be  the  law  to  man  ;  and  you  hear  that  it  "  is 
the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus"  that  Chris- 
tian men  should  "  rejoice  evermore,  pray  with- 
out ceasing,  and  in  every  thing  give  thanks." 
Another  part  of  the  text  is, 

"Quench  not  the  Spirit."  You  that  have 
the  Spirit  of  God,  see  that  you  do  not  quench 
it.  Grace  is  a  very  tender  plant,  and  may  easily 
be  destroyed.  You  need  not  go  to  bed  drunk 
to  quench  the  Spirit.  It  may  be  quenched  by 
neglecting  prayer,  by  giving  your  minds  to 
foolish  and  trifling  objects,  by  attending  to 
earthly  things,  by  refusing  to  do  good,  by  not 
praying  with  your  families.  The  master  with 
whom  I  was  an  apprentice  never  used  family 
prayer  :  I  have  often  thought  of  it  since  :  and  it 
was  no  wonder  that  we  grew  up  so  very  wicked. 
When  I  got  converted,  it  was  as  natural  for  me 
to  pray  with  my  family  as  it  was  to  live.  I 
should  be  like  a  fish  out  of  water  without  prayer. 
But  wo  may  also  grieve  or  quench  the  Spirit,  by 
refusing  to  do  our  duty,  and  by  speaking  rashly 
with  our  mouths.  I  remember  quenching  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  this  way  once.     A  man  came 


340  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

into  my  shop,  and  asked  me  to  do  a  job  for  him. 
Being  afraid  he  would  never  pay,  I  felt  vexed 
that  he  should  ask.  me,  and  hastily  told  him 
that  I  would  not  do  it.  But  I  soon  felt  that  I 
had  done  wrong,  and  would  have  given  almost 
any  thing  to  have  had  my  words  back  again. 
Besides,  I  thought  the  refusal  might  lose  the 
man  a  half  day's  work.  But  I  was  off  my 
guard ;  the  devil  gained  his  point ;  and  pride 
hindered  me  from  confessing  my  sin.  Well, 
what  was  to  be  done  ?  Satan  had  gotten  me 
down  ;  but  I  was  not  to  lie  there,  and  give  all 
up.  No.  I  said  to  my  wife,  "  I  have  lost  my 
evidence  of  the  favour  of  God ;  I  will  go  to  Mr. 
Bramwell — he  is  a  man  of  prayer,  and  will  help 
me  to  obtain  it  again."  He  did  so,  and  I  found 
it — glory  be  to  God  ! 

"  Despise  not  prophesyings."  Do  not 
turn  your  backs  upon  the  word  of  God  ;  for 
"  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the 
word  of  God."  1  told  you  that  you  have  only 
an  old  blacksmith  for  your  preacher.  But  you 
must  not  think,  that,  because  of  that,  you  have 
no  need  to  repent  and  turn  to  God.  What  I 
say  is  true  ;  and  if  I  speak  according  to  the  will 
of  God,  you  have  as  much  right  to  attend  to 
what  I  say,  as  though  the  greatest  preacher  in 
the  world  were  in  the  pulpit.  You  may  not 
think  me  a  very  unse  preacher,  but  I  am  a  very 
safe  one  for  you ;  for  if  I  preach  at  all,  it  must 
be  the  gospei  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  know  nothing 
else  ;  and  if  I  were  to  lose  my  religion,  I  should 
not   offer  to   preach   another    sermon.     But   I 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  341 

must  get  on,  or  I  shall  preach  too  long — and 
long  sermons  do  no  good.  In  the  first  age  of 
Christianity,  some  were  for  Paul,  some  for 
Apollos,  and  some  for  Cephas.  Some  said  one 
thing,  and  some  said  another:  but  we  are  to 
"  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God."  And 
St.  Paul  says, 

"  Prove  all  things."  Do  not  be  content 
with  any  religion  that  comes  to  hand,  but  ex- 
amine it,  and  see  if  it  be  right  according  to 
Scripture.  Some  folk  boast  about  not  changing 
their  religion,  and  that — however  they  may 
live — reckon  they  will  not  have  to  seek  their 
religion  at  last.  Alas,  for  them !  They  are 
called  Christians  on  no  better  ground  than 
Turks  are  called  Mohammedans — merely  be- 
cause their  fathers  and  their  grandfathers  were 
called  so.  When  I  first  became  religious,  I 
thought  I  would  join  the  best  people  and  be 
right,  if  possible.  I  knew  what  the  Church 
was  ;  so  that  I  did  not  need  to  try  it.  I  went 
to  a  Catholic  chapel,  as  the  Catholics  say  they 
are  the  oldest  Christians  in  the  world,  and  make 
great  pretensions  to  be  the  true  Church.  But  I 
did  not  understand  their  Latin  prayers  and 
monkish  ceremonies,  and  found  I  could  get  no 
good  to  my  soul  there.  I  then  went  to  a  Quaker 
meeting ;  but  there  was  never  a  word  spoken  ; 
and  I  wanted  to  know  how  I  might  love  and 
serve  God.  After  that,  I  went  to  the  Baptists, 
and  the  Calvinists  ;  but  the  Methodists  suited 
me  best.  Still  I  am  not  slavishly  bound  to  any 
party  ;  and  if  I  could  find  a  gainer,  a  better,  or 


342  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

a  cheaper  way  of  getting  to  heaven,  I  would 
willingly  go  that  way.  "  Hold  fast  that  which 
is  good."  Having  found  religion,  don't  be  so 
ready  to  part  with  it.  Hold  it  fast.  The  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  will  strive  to  get  it  from 
you  ;  but  be  determined  sooner  to  part  with  your 
life  than  make  shipwreck  of  faith  and  a  good 
conscience. 

"Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil." 
This  is  a  capital  direction.  How  many  people 
ott  wrong  through  self-conceit  and  proud  con- 
fidence !  "  O,"  say  they,  "  there  is  no  harm  in 
such  a  thing,  and  such  a  thing  ;  it  is  not  clearly 
forbidden  in  Scripture."  They  are  not  sure 
whether  it  is  right  or  wrong;  so  they  will  even 
make  the  venture,  although  the  Scripture  says, 
"  He  that  doubtcth  is  damned''' — that  is,  con- 
demned in  his  conscience.  If  there  be  an 
"  appearance  of  evil"  do  not  venture.  When  I 
go  anywhere  on  business,  I  always  strive  to 
get  out  of  the  way  of  wicked  men.  I  am  like  a 
iish  out  of  water  here  again :  I  cannot  live  out 
of  my  element;  I  am  always  afraid  of  being 
corrupted  by  them.  "  Can  a  man  take  fire  into 
his  bosom,  and  his  clothes  not  be  burned  V  Now, 
I  am  coming  to  the  very  best  part  of  the  sub- 
ject :  I  am  sure  I  can  say  something  about 
sanctification,  for  I  love  it  best. 

"And  the  very  God  of  peace  sanctify 
you  wholly  throughout  spirit,  soul,  and 
body."  It  seems  to  me  that  man  is  made  up 
of  three  parts — a  spirit,  which  is  immortal — a 
soul,  which  he  has  as  an  animal — and  a  body 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  343 

which  is  ihe  dwelling-place  of  the  soul  and 
spirit.  The  body  will  soon  die  ;  and  of  each  it 
may  soon  be  said,  "  Earth  to  earth,  ashes  to 
ashes,  dust  to  dust."  But  when  that  part  of 
us  which  is  taken  from  the  earth  shall  join 
again  its  "  kindred  dust,"  it  will  then  havo 
passed  into  another  state,  and  will  either  bo 
"  numbered  with  the  blest,"  or  "  with  the 
damned  cast  out."  Should  it  have  been  made 
holy  during  the  time  it  was  united  to  the  body, 
it  will  go  to  a  place  of  happiness.  If  unsancti- 
fled,  it  will  be  driven  to  a  place  of  misery.  Some 
men  have  thought  that  the  terms  "  spirit  and 
soul"  in  the  text,  refer  to  the  powers  and  dis- 
positions of  the  mind  ;  but  whichever  way  it  is, 
and  whether  you  divide  man  into  three  parts, 
or  thirty  parts,  St.  Paul  means  to  include  them 
all  in  this  entire  sanctification.  We  are  first 
to  be  sanctified,  and  then  to  be  "  preserved 
blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  The  justification  of  a  sinner  is  a  great 
work,  which  none  but  God  can  perform  ;  but  to 
sanctify  that  sinner  wholly  is  almost  more  than 
the  mind  can  understand.  There  are  many 
who  stagger  at  the  doctrine  of  entire  sanctifica- 
tion, and  cannot  think  that  it  refers  to  any  state 
of  grace  upon  earth.  But  St.  Paul  prays  that 
the  Thessalonians  may  be  thus  sanctified,  and 
often  speaks  of  it  in  his  other  epistles.  He 
declares  that  "  this  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your 
sanclijication.''''  I  had  doubts  about  this  doctrine 
once  ;  but  I  was  convinced  of  the  truth  of  it 
one  day,  while  going  through  a  wood.     I  saw 


344  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

two  trees  which  had  been  felled.  One  of  them 
had  been  cut  away  to  make  a  ship,  or  a  coffin, 
or  something  else  :  but  the  stump  was  left  in 
the  ground,  and  young  trees  were  again  grow- 
ing out  of  the  old  one.  Ah,  thought  I,  this  is 
like  a  man  who  is  justified.  The  stump  of  his 
evil  nature  remains,  and  fresh  evils  spring  up 
and  trouble  him.  Well,  sirs,  I  came  to  the 
other  tree.  It  was  laid  upon  the  ground,  but 
the  roots  were  stubbed  up,  so  that  it  could  not 
grow  again.  I  said  to  myself,  This  tree  is  like 
a  man  in  a  sanctified  state  ;  the  strings  are  cut 
that  tied  him  to  the  world  ;  and  the  earth  is  no 
longer  about  his  roots  ;  "  the  world  is  crucified" 
to  him,  and  he  "  unto  the  world."  I  got  a  fair 
view  of  the  doctrine  of  sanctification  that  day  ; 
and  it  was  the  Lord  himself  that  made  use  of 
these  two  trees  to  teach  me  what  I  desired  to 
know.  I  sometimes  compare  religion  to  the 
best  coin  of  the  realm.  First,  there  is  repent- 
ance :  this  may  be  compared  to  a  seven-shilling 
piece;  though  there  is  but  little  of  it,  still  it  is 
good.  Then  comes  pardon  :  this  is  like  half  a 
guinea.  Next  comes  sanctification  :  this  is  like 
a  guinea.  Now,  who  would  be  content  with 
seven  shillings,  or  even  with  half  a  guinea, 
when  he  might  just  as  well  have  a  whole  guinea, 
by  applying  for  it  ? 

What  a  blessed  world  this  will  be,  when  the 
Christian  Church  zealously  contends  for  the 
doctrine  of  Christian  holiness !  Nearly  the 
whole  of  our  natural  disorders  are  owing  to  our 
hins.     If  people    were    more    religious,  there 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  345 

would  not  be  so  much  need  of  doctors;  and 
when  the  millennium  comes,  they  may  get  a 
fresh  trade  ;  for  as  there  will  then  be  no  more 
sin  in  the  world,  so  there  will  be  no  more  pain 
or  sickness.  This  state  of  holiness  is  not 
without  its  trials.  As  you  got  into  it  by  faith, 
you  may  get  out  of  it  by  unbelief.  You  must 
not  think  that  the  battle  is  ended,  or  the  work 
is  done,  when  you  have  stepped  into  this  liberty 
of  the  gospel.     No  :  you  are  to  be 

"  Preserved  blameless."  When  perse- 
cution or  tribulation  arises,  whether  from  the 
devil  or  man,  do  not  part  with  your  sanctification. 
It  will  abide  a  storm.  Do  not  slip  into  a  state 
which  is  more  dangerous,  though  not  so  much 
exposed ;  and  it  you  should  lose  your  hold, 
strive  to  get  it  again.  It  sometimes  happens, 
in  a  great  battle,  that  a  particular  house  or  barn 
is  taken  and  retaken  many  times  in  a  day.  I 
have  lost  this  sanctification  at  different  times, 
but  I  always  got  it  again.  I  have  suffered  a 
good  deal  for  sanctification.  The  devil  once 
got  hold  of  me  thus  : — A  cunning  man  came 
into  my  shop  one  day,  and  asked  me  what  good 
I  got  by  going  to  love-feasts,  and  other  meetings, 
and  whether  it  was  not  possible  to  live  to  God 
without  so  much  trouble,  and  so  much  praying  ? 
What  he  said  set  me  a  reasoning.  I  thought  I 
could,  and  began  to  try  ;  but  I  soon  lost  my 
evidence  of  sanctification,  and  as  soon  felt  my 
loss.  I  was  like  old  Pilgrim,  who  had  lost  his 
roll,  and  went  back  to  find  it. 

There  are  people   who  believe  that  sin  will 


346  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

never  be  destroyed,  but  by  death  ;  and  thus  they 
make  death  a  mightier  conqueror  than  Jesus 
Christ.  The  founders  of  our  Church  had  other 
views,  for  they  taught  us  to  pray,  that  the 
"  thoughts  of  our  hearts  may  be  cleansed  by 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  If  the 
thoughts  are  cleansed,  we  are  sure  that  the 
words  will  be  holy  and  the  life  good  ;  for  it  is 
out  of  the  heart,  as  the  fountain,  that  all  evils 
flow.  The  language  is  nothing  but  the  bell, 
and  the  hands  the  index,  to  show  what  is  within. 
If  there  was  no  clock-work  in  the  inside,  we 
should  never  know  the  hour  of  the  day.  The 
promise  of  the  Saviour  is,  that  the  gospel  shall 
be  preached  as  a  witness  among  all  nations, 
and  that  then  the  end  shall  come.  The  end  of 
what? — the  end  of  the  world?  No,  no;  the 
wickedness  of  the  wicked  shall  come  to  an  end, 
and  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of 
God.  This  doctrine  I  will  preach  to  the  end 
of  my  life.  If  the  king  were  to  make  a  de- 
cree, that  if  any  man  dared  to  preach  the  doc- 
trine of  sanctification  he  should  have  his  head 
cut  off,  1  would  willingly  go  and  lay  my  head 
upon  the  block,  and  would  shout  with  my  last 
breath,  "May  the  very  God  of  peace  sanctify 
you  wholly  throughout  body,  and  soul,  and  spirit, 
and  preserve  you  blameless  unto  the  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  O,  friends,  get  this 
sanctification  of  the  heart — pray  to  God  for  it 
earnestly — believe  that  it  is  your  privilege  to 
enjoy  it — and  claim  the  blessing  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ. 


THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.  347 

The  papists  talk  of  a  purgatory  after  death ; 
but  I  have  been  in  one  in  this  life  ; — 

"  'Tis  worse  than  death  my  God  to  love, 
And  not  my  God  alone." 

I  never  mean  to  be  in  this  purgatory  again. 
While  I  live  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  religion,  I 
will  invite  others  to  partake  of  it.  Yes,  I  will 
preach  this  sanctification 

'  While  I've  breath, 


And  when  my  voice  is  lost  in  death, 
Praise  shall  employ  my  nobler  powers." 

Sin  has  led  many  a  man  to  destruction,  but  I 
never  heard  that  holiness  ever  injured  any  one. 
I  had  a  man  that  lived  with  me ;  he  was  a  very 
good  workman,  but  determined  to  live  in  sin. 
He  would  never  come  in  to  family  prayer,  and 
it  grieved  me  sadly  that  any  man  should  live 
in  my  house  who  was  such  an  enemy  to  godli- 
ness. He  was  such  a  spendthrift,  and  repro- 
bate, that  he  had  hardly  any  clothes  to  his  back, 
and  was  always  in  debt  at  the  alehouses  and 
shoemaker's.  Well,  I  thought,  "  This  must 
come  to  an  end ;"  and  I  determined  to  part  with 
him.  While  reasoning  one  day  upon  it,  I 
thought  again,  "  How  many  years  has  God 
had  patience  with  thee,  Sammy?  Why,  five 
and  twenty  years  !"  Then,  I  said  to  myself, 
"  I  must  have  a  bit  more  patience  with  this  poor 
fellow,  and  try  some  other  means  to  bring  about 
his  conversion."  Well,  sirs,  I  set  a  trap  for 
him,  and  baited  it  with  faith  and  prayer.  I 
go'  him  persuaded  to  go  to  a  lovefeast.     The 


348  THE    VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

people  wondered  to  see  him  there.  He  went 
out  of  curiosity,  to  hear  what  the  friends  had  to 
say,  and,  it  may  be,  to  make  sport  of  them. 
But  God  found  him  out,  and  brought  him  into 
great  distress  of  soul.  This  ended  in  his  con- 
version. God  made  a  Iran  new  man  of  him  ; 
and  he  now  finds  that  godliness  has  the  pro- 
mise of  this  life.  He  looks  a  hundred  pound 
better  than  he  did.  He  soon  began  to  pay  off 
his  old  debts,  and  now  lives  without  making 
fresh  ones.  Did  sin  ever  do  a  man  any  good  like 
this  ?  No.  It  promises  much,  but  it  never  per- 
forms what  it  promises.  The  truth  is,  it  has 
nothing  to  give  ;  for  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death." 
Every  sinner  will  shrink  from  the  payment  of 
those  wages  which  he  has  earned  by  a  life 
of  sin. 

It  is  religion  that  makes  good  husbands, 
good  wives,  good  children,  good  masters,  and 
good  servants.  It  is  the  best  thing  a  man  can 
have  in  this  world,  and  it  is  what  will  fit  him 
for  heaven.  May  God  save  you !  I  hope  I 
shall  meet  you  all  in  heaven.  I  feel  such  love 
to  you  that  I  could  take  you  all  in  my  arms, 
and  carry  you  into  Abraham's  bosom.  O,  that 
every  person  in  this  congregation  may  turn 
from  his  evil  ways,  and  become  a  new  crea- 
ture !  May  "  the  very  God  of  peace  sanctify  yoc 
wholly,  and  preserve  you  blameless  in  body 
soul,  and  spirit !''     Amen  ! 


CONTENTS 

TO 

THE  VILLAGE  BLACKSMITH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

His  birth — Parentage — Hears  John  Nelson — Disturbance 
during  street-preaching — Is  bound  an  apprentice  to  a  black- 
smith— His  conduct — Attends  a  lovefeast — Becomes  the  sub- 
ject o(  divine  impressions — Hears  Thomas  Peace — Visits 
York — Scenes  of  riot — Hears  Richard  Burdsall — His  con- 
duct toward  a  persecuting  clergyman — His  heart  increasing- 
ly softened — Conviction — Mr.  Wesley — The  good  effects  of 
that  venerable  man's  ministry,  .         .         .         Page  13 

CHAPTER  II. 

He  leaves  his  master  before  the  expiration  of  his  appren- 
ticeship— Is  providentially  directed  to  a  suitable  situation, 
and  commences  business  for  himself — His  marriage — His 
benevolence — Death  of  his  wife's  mother — Is  alarmed  by  a 
dream — Obtains  mercy — Suddenness  of  his  conversion — Its 
fruits — His  zeal — Answer  to  prayer,  and  effects  of  his  ex- 
postulation with  a  landlady — Summary  of  the  evidence  of 
his  conversion,  31 

CHAPTER  III. 

He  seeks  church  fellowship — Advises  with  a  pious  cler- 
gyman, with  whom  he  meets  in  band — Unites  himself,  on  the 
clergyman's  leaving  the  neighbourhood,  to  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists — The  kind  of  preaching  under  which  he  profited 
— Society  at  Sturton  Grange — A  revival  of  religion — Two 
colliers  rendered  extensively  useful — A  solitary  barn  tne 
resort  of  the  devout — Samuel's  distress  on  account  of  in- 
dwelling sin,  and  his  deliverance  from  it — Singular  occur- 
rence— Deep  distn  ss  compatible  with  a  state  of  justifica- 
tion  49 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Samuel's  public  character — His  call  to  speak  in  public — 
A  dream — Reproves  a  clergyman— Assists  in  praver  meet- 


350       CONTENTS VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

ings — Vrisits  Howden  and  other  places — A  remarkable  out 
pouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God — His  power  in  prayer — Labours 
to  be  useful — Suits  bis  language  and  thoughts  to  the  employ- 
ment of  persons  addressed — A  general  plan  laid  down  for  the 
spread  of  religion  in  the  villages  of  Garforth,  barwick,  &c. 
— Samuel  received  as  a  regular  local  preacher — His  person 
— Intellect — Influence — Peculiarities — Tenderness—  Lan- 
guage— Style  of  preaching — An  apology  for  his  minis- 
try,   Page  65 

CHAPTER  V. 

His  diligence — The  light  in  which  he  beheld  mankind — 
The  substance  of  a  conversation  held  with  Earl  Mexborough 
— Samuel's  circumscribed  knowledge  in  natural  history — His 
views  of  the  Bible — Proofs  in  favour  of  the  doctrine  of  fu- 
ture rewards  and  punishments — His  visit  to  the  seat  of  Earl 
Mexborough — A  point  of  conscience — A  painting— Fidelity 
in  reproving  sin,  at  the  hazard  of  being  injured  in  his  trade 
— The  millennium  dexterously  hitched  in,  as  a  check  to 
pleasure-takers — Three  hunting  ecclesiastics  rendered  the 
subject  of  merriment  among  the  titled  laity — Ministerial 
fruit  a  proof  of  the  power  of  truth,  not  of  a  call  to  preach  it 
— Duty  on  saddled  horses  viewed  as  a  hardship — Samuel's 
more  extended  labours — Privations — Persecutions — A  poor 
widow — A  conquest  over  bigotry  at  Ledsham,   .         .        93 

CHAPTER  VI. 

His  qualifications  for  soliciting  pecuniary  aid — An  unsuc- 
cessful application  to  a  clergyman — Relieves  his  circuit  from 
a  debt  of  seventy  pounds  —  His  anxiety  to  obtain  a  chapel  at 
Aberford — A  miser,  and  his  manner  of  addressing  him — A 
chapel  erected — Contests  w  ith  different  avaricious  characters 
— A  visit  to  Rochdale — Administers  seasonable  relief  to  a 
preacher's  family — His  Scriptural  views  of  chanty — Supplies 
a  poor  family  with  coals — Regales  part  of  a  company  of 
soldiers  on  a  forced  march — An  amusing  domestic  scene — 
Visitation  of  the  sick — Gives  up  the  use  of  tobacco  from 
principle — His  indisposition,  and  inattention  to  the  advice 
of  his  medical  attendant — The  good  effects  of  his  state  of 
mind  upon  others — Raises  a. subscription  for  a  poor  man — 
Relieves  a  poor  female — His  love  to  the  missionary  cause — 
Origin  of  missionary  meetings  among  the  Wesleyans,     11G 

CHAPTER  VII. 
His  patriotic  lii  ling  -High   price  of   provisions—Differs 


CONTENTS VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH.         351 

with  Mr.  Piiwson  for  prognosticating  evil — Letter  to  the 
Rev.  Edward  Irving  on  prophecy — Threatened  invasion  of 
Bonaparte — An  address  to  the  king — Samuel's  loyalty — M 
A.  Taylor,  Esq. — The  suppression  of  a  religious  assembly 
— A  defence  of  a  religious  revival — His  interview  with  Mr. 
Taylor — Obtains  a  license  to  preach — An  allusion  to  him 
in  a  parliamentary  debate,  ....       Page  150 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

His  power  in  prayer — Divine  impressions — An  afflicting 
providence — Remarkable  answers  to  prayer — Familiar  ex- 
pressions in  prayer  to  be  avoided — Encounters  a  blacksmith 
— His  usefulness — His  meekness  under  persecution — Sin- 
gular method  of  self-defence  against  the  aspersions  of  a  cler- 
gyman— Musical  festivals — Mr.  Brad  burn — Lovefeast — Per- 
fection—  Seasonable  remarks — The  doctrine  of  sanctification 
maintained  in  opposition  to  a  clergyman — Cheerful  disposi- 
tion— Indiscretionate  zeal  in  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of 
Friends 169 

CHAPTER  IX. 

His  self-denial — Sympathy  for  the  poor — Gratitude  for 
mercies — Early  rising—  Singular  baDd-meeting — The  best 
way  of  beginning  the  day—  His  conduct  in  the  families  he 
visited — Bolton — Ralcliffc  Close — Often  abrupt  in  his  man- 
ners—His views  of  proprietorship — A  genuine  Wesleyan — 
An  attempt  to  purchase  him — His  character  as  the  head  of 
a  family — Gives  up  business—  Preaching  excursions — Visits 
Rigton—  Providential  supply — His  public  addresses — De- 
light in  his  work — E.  Brook,  Esq. —  Dcnby  Dale — Prosper* 
ity  of  the  work  of  God — A  new  chapel — Samuel  visits  Roch- 
dale— Rises  superior  to  his  exercises — Takes  a  tour  into 
different  parts  of  Lancashire — Great  commercial  distress — 
liberality  of  P.  E.  Towneley,  Esq. — Meeting  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor— Samuel's  return  home — Visits  different  parts 
of  the  Vork  circuit — Revival  of  religion — Persecution,  197 

CHAPTER  X. 

His  first  visit  to  London — Dialogue  at  an  inn  on  the  road 
— Wesleyan  missionary  meeting — Preaches  at  Southwark 
— Exalts  divine  truth  at  the  expense  of  human  knowledge — 
Persons  benefited  by  his  addresses — His  notions  of  nervous 
complaints — His  second  visit  to  the  metropolis — Mrs.  Wrath- 
all  ;  her  character,  experience,  and  affliction — Samuel's  gen- 
era! views  and  feelings,  as  connected  with   his   second  visit 


352         CONTENTS VILLAGE    BLACKSMITH. 

— Pleads  strenuously  for  the  doctrine  of  sanctification — Is 
both  opposed  and  supported  in  it  by  persons  of  the  Baptist 
persuasion — Receives  a  gentle  admonition  from  Martha — A 
specimen  of  one  of  his  public  addresses  when  in  one  of  his 
most  felicitous  moods, Page  230 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Continues  in  London — An  epitome  of  a  week's  labour — 
Mrs.  Wrathall's  religions  enjoyments — Samuel  meets  with 
one  converted  Jew,  and  attempts  the  Christian  improve 
mentof  another — Preaches  out  of  doors — Visits  Michael 
Angelo  Taylor,  Esq. — Farther  account  of  Mrs.  Wrathall — 
Samuel's  usefulness — His  love  of  Yorkshire — Enjoys  a  ride 
into  the  country — Goes  into  Kent — Tent-preaching — Is  re- 
proved for  loud  praying — His  views  of  death — Spiritualizes 
a  thunder-storm — An  African — Mrs.  Wrathall's  death — 
Samuel  visits  Windsor — Is  rendered  a  blessing  to  the  people 
— Returns  to  London — Is  called  into  Yorkshire  to  preach  a 
funeral  sermon, 252 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Takes  a  tour  through  different  parts  of  Yorkshire — Low 
state  of  the  work  of  God  at  Warter — Gives  the  preference 
to  vocal  music  in  a  place  of  worship — Goes  into  the  Snaith 
circuit — Goole — Meets  with  old  friends — Is  affected  with 
early  recollections,  on  visiting  the  scene  of  Martha's  juvenile 
days — Prayer  meetings — Returns  to  Yorkshire — Labours  in 
the  Easingwold  circuit — Is  again  cheered  with  the  sight  of 
old  associates — His  increasing  popularity — Meets  with  a 
serious  accident  by  a  fall  from  his  horse — His  conduct  when 
under  medical  attendance — Is  visited  by  Mr.  Dawscn — His 
partial  restoration  to  health — Visits  the  West  Riding — Pro- 
ceeds into  Lancashire — Is  attacked  by  an  infidel  while 
preaching  out  of  doors  at  Bolton — Is  summoned  by  letter  to 
Grassington — Becomes  seriously  indisposed — Witnesses  the 
happy  death  of  his  niece — Returns  home — Declines  rapidly 
in  health — Attends  to  some  funeral  arrangements — His  state 
of  mind — His  triumphant  death — The  general  sympathy  ex 
cited  on  the  occasion — Conclusion — Notes,  .        278 


